FAIRFIELD, Ohio — Tenth- through 12th-graders at Fairfield High School will finish their year online, superintendent Billy Smith announced Saturday afternoon.
These grade levels will attend school on Monday, then learn remotely from Dec. 15-18.
In a letter to Fairfield students’ families, Smith wrote that schools in his district were safe but “a consistent upward trend of positive (COVID-19) cases and quarantines for students and staff at Fairfield Senior High School has had a significant impact on in-person learning.”
The problem is made worse by a lack of teachers and substitutes available to cover for colleagues who are sick or quarantining, he wrote.
Smith said Fairfield students should expect to continue their extracurriculars, even on remote learning days, and to return to in-person learning on Jan. 4, 2021.
“We understand the inconvenience and the disappointment this may cause, but we believe this is the best way to protect our senior high school students and staff,” he wrote.
Fairfield’s situation isn’t unique among local school districts. Madeira City Schools shifted to an entirely online schedule Dec. 8. Cincinnati Public Schools, also dealing with high rates of staff absences due to COVID-19, went fully remote in late November and later opted to remain that way until at least Jan. 16.
