WARE COUNTY, Ga. — Two Southeast Georgia middle schools will be closing their doors to students and staff and switching to digital instruction the week of Nov. 16 through 20 due to staffing shortages caused by COVID-19 exposure.
Ware County Middle School and Waycross Middle School will be closed next week.
The closure is due to staff member's exposure to positive COVID-19 cases, and now they have to quarantine, Ware County Schools said in an email. They do not have enough substitute teachers to cover those positions.
"The cooperation of staff members who are asked to quarantine will be helpful in avoiding any further closures," the email said.
All middle school athletic and extracurricular activities will be canceled during the schools' closure, effective Friday. Any additional announcements will be shared through the district's Facebook page, website or Thrillshare.
Staff members affected by the closure will receive additional information from their principals, the district said in an email.
The school district sent First Coast News the following information:
- District-wide, 17 students have tested positive and 343 students have been quarantined.
- Eleven positive staff members and 52 staff members quarantined.
- Ware County Middle School has had three students test positive and four staff members test positive.
- Waycross Middle School has had two positive students and two positive staff members.
Jasmine Dixon's son is a sixth-grader at Waycross Middle School. She said she wasn't surprised to get the phone call classes were going virtual.
"I mean, the way this year is going with COVID, I could just see them closing school altogether, so for me getting the call that they were closing school next week, it really wasn't a big deal for me because we're already used to virtual learning anyways, so we just have to tap back into virtual," Dixon said.
She chose virtual learning for her son for the first few months of school, just sending him back to in-person learning last month.
“After the first nine weeks, everything seemed like it was clear. Well, not necessarily clear, but everything seemed like it was good," she said. "The schools were reporting everything and keeping everybody up to date about COVID, so I decided to send them back to school," she said.
According to a spokesperson with the district, they've notified all students and staff who were potentially exposed. If a parent or guardian didn't get a notification, their child hasn't been directly exposed, the spokesperson said. The district works closely with the county's department of health to help with contact tracing.
"It makes you worry about your kids. I know I worry about mine," Dixon said.
"I pray over them every day before they leave because I make sure that they are healthy and that they’re ok because you never know when they leave your eyesight, when they leave your home they could be healthy, but as soon as they get around other kids or anybody, you don’t know who is exposed to what and it’s just crazy," she said.
Students will use their Chromebooks assigned and handed out to them earlier this year to learn virtually next week. The district's spokesperson said if a student doesn't have their's at home, they can pick it up at their school Monday morning.
Dixon said her son just made the basketball team, and was looking forward to the season.
"He was upset. He loves school. He wants to go to school and being that he just made the basketball team, it kind of sucks for him because he’s a sixth-grader and he loves basketball, and that’s all he has been talking about," she said.
"I told him we have to do everything we can do to stay healthy," she said.
Dixon said she doesn't know if she wants to send her son back when they're able to return.
"I know he's going to want to go back to school because he’s a hands-on learner. He likes to be there. He likes to be present," Dixon said.
"If the COVID rate doesn't decrease, which I don't see it happening any time this year, then I'm just going to use my wisdom and keep my kids home," she said.
Students will return to both schools after the Thanksgiving holiday.
