Colleges aren’t the only schools that have had to close their doors soon after reopening.
And in some cases, school officials are laying the blame for their changing plans on families in their communities, where graduation and end-of-summer parties prompted spikes in positive COVID-19 cases.
That’s what happened in the Carle Place School District in Long Island, New York, where Superintendent Christine A. Finn announced school would start with remote learning last Wednesday rather than in person.
“We have no choice but to put the safety of our staff and students first,” she said in a letter that connected many of the new positive COVID-19 cases in the community to attendance at parties where some who tested positive had close contact with students.
Carle Place isn’t alone. Suburban school districts in Milwaukee and Georgia also have experienced an uptick in COVID-19 cases among students, causing some to scrap or delay plans to open with some students in classrooms.
Parties are only one reason some the switch, with everything from staff shortages to broader outbreaks in the community forcing some districts to flip to an all-remote start.