Majority of students are back in class

Unit 1 School District students began the second semester with in-person learning last week with over 80% in attendance.
In his weekly COVID-19 report to parents and guardians issued Jan. 8, Unit 1 Superintendent Dr. Kent Bugg reported a majority of student had returned to the classroom following the two-week winter break.
“Prior to the winter break, we experienced a rapid increase in the number of students registered for full remote learning. But when we started school again this week, we saw those numbers decrease rapidly,” Bugg said.
Of the 2,132 students enrolled in the district, 14.49% have selected full remote learning. The other 1,823 students are attending in-person.
“Although we respect and understand the individual situations of the families, we are always excited to have our students learning in front of their teachers,” Bugg said.
At of the start of the semester, the early childhood center’s enrollment was 402 with 86.8% attending in-person and 13.2% participating remotely.
Among the elementary school’s 281 students, 89.3% are in-person learners and 10.7% remote, and 85.4% of the intermediate school’s 323 students are in-person with the remaining 14.6% engaging remotely.
The middle and high schools have the largest number of remote learners at 16.6% and 15.4%, respectively. At the middle school 83.4% or 396 of the 475 enrolled are attending class in-person and of the 651 high schoolers, 551 are in-person learners.
The information was included in the report that provides weekly data on the number of COVID-19 cases, including the number of students and staff quarantined but not having tested positive for the virus.
In the 14 days prior to the winter break—Dec. 10-23—the district had four reported student cases and three [certified] staff cases. In the 14-day period between Dec. 26 and Jan. 8 the district reported four student cases—one each at the elementary and high schools and two at the middle school—and two [support] staff cases both at the early childhood center.
As for those quarantined the two days prior to the break the daily average was 102.5 students and six staff members across the district. Last week, the student average was 47.4 and staff was four.
“Our local data continues to show that the implemented COVID mitigation strategies in our Return to School Plan have proven effective. Although the COVID data across the county is improving, our school district data consistently shows a much lower percentage of positive cases among our students and staff,” Bugg said.
The superintendent noted the district continues to ask for parent assistance in symptom checking their children each day before school and keeping them home if they experience any COVID-19 related symptoms.
“Your diligence in symptom checks is vital to our ability to continue offering valuable in-person instruction for our students,” Bugg stated in the correspondence, adding, “As be we begin the second semester, please keep reinforcing to your children the importance of facemasks outside of school, washing their hands, and social distancing. By reinforcing proper mitigation strategies outside of school, we enhance our ability to continue offering the face-to-face instructional opportunities that we believe are invaluable to the academic and social/emotional health of our students.”