More than a dozen Cleveland schools closed Friday due to staff illnesses, spokesman says
CLEVELAND, Ohio — Fourteen Cleveland Metropolitan School District schools are closed Friday after many staff members called off sick, leaving the school district without enough substitute teachers to fill the spots, a district spokesman said.
On Thursday, the district reported the highest number of COVID-19 cases among Ohio school districts for the third straight week, according to an update from the Ohio Department of Health. The district reported a total of 239 new cases this week, with 171 among students and 68 among members of its staff.
There will not be any remote learning while the buildings are closed, district spokesman Tom Ott said.
“The district declared calamity days for 14 schools today because a large portion of their staffs called off sick and we did not have enough substitutes,” Ott said. “Without teachers to provide the instruction, the schools could not switch to remote learning. Since the beginning of the week, four high schools have switched to remote learning due to an uptick in COVID cases, including student cases.”
The following schools are closed Friday due to staff illnesses:
- A. J. Rickoff
- Clark
- Collinwood
- Dike
- East Tech
- Franklin D. Roosevelt
- George Washington Carver
- Glenville
- Halle
- John F. Kennedy
- Mary Bethune
- Wade Park
- Waverly
- Willson
The John Adams College & Career Academy will be in remote learning Friday, according to the school district.
The Rhodes College & Career Academy and Rhodes School of Environmental Studies are in remote learning until Friday.
CMSD’s downtown Welcome Center will be closed to the public through the rest of this week for building repairs.
For information on how to reach district services, check department listings at ClevelandMetroSchools.org or call 216-838-0000.
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