East Valley middle, high school students head to remote learning as COVID-19 cases continue to rise
High numbers of COVID-19 cases continue to affect local school districts, forcing some of East Valley’s 4,200 students to learn remotely next week.
In a message to families sent Friday, the East Valley School District said that based on quarantine guidelines set by the Spokane Regional Health District, it would need to shut down a large number of classes next week.
Beginning Monday, the district’s middle and high schools are moving online through Friday.
“Throughout the district, we have limped, staggered, and crawled through the month of January,” the letter said.
The district’s current COVID dashboard, posted Monday, showed 198 cases in the previous 14 days.
Athletics will not be affected, and lunches will be provided at certain locations, the district said.
Elsewhere, the rural Riverside and Liberty districts have extremely high numbers for their size.
Riverside, with an enrollment of 1,400, reported 143 cases in the previous 14 days.
Liberty in Spangle has 109 cases out of a student population of 558.
Larger districts continue to post near-record numbers.
In its weekly dashboard posted on Friday, Spokane Public Schools reported 1,016 positive cases – students and staff who had confirmed COVID cases and entered a school building from Monday through Friday.
That’s up slightly from the 941 posted a week ago, but the number of people quarantined dropped sharply, from 2,336 to 835.
The dashboard posted Friday at Central Valley School District showed a record 1,368 cases among students and staff in the previous 10 days. University High School had 123 cases, while five elementary schools in the district had 40 or more.
At Greenacres Elementary School, 22 staff members have tested positive in 10 days.
In the Mead School District, 883 students and staff have tested positive in the past 10 days.
Cheney School District reported 389 cases since Jan. 18, with 128 at Cheney High School.
At Coeur d’Alene Schools, 196 cases were reported this week, a sharp decline from the 382 last week.
Among other districts, Medical Lake has 141 in the past 14 days and Freeman 35 as of Monday.