The 1,860 Fort Scott school students will get five days off from school starting tomorrow, thanks to the pandemic.
USD 234 Superintendent Ted Hessong said because of the high student absenteeism and a high level of transmission of the virus, Fort Scott schools will be closed tomorrow Thursday, Jan. 13 and Friday, Jan. 14.
“These two days will count as snow days for tracking of hours on the academic calendar,” he said. “Remote Learning will not be utilized on these two days.”
The two days of school cancellation are followed by the weekend, then a pre-scheduled staff professional development day on January 17.
“This closure is needed to assist in slowing down the spread of the virus and to give students and staff who are not feeling well time to recover. We hope these five days away will help people,” he said.
“School activities will be canceled for January 13, 14 and 15,” he said.
“We will continue with the scheduled professional development day on Monday, January 17, and activities will resume on Monday,” Hessong said.
Masks will be required in all buildings on Tuesday when students return on the18th, he said.
“We will monitor numbers regarding the mask requirement next week,” Hessong said.
The Test to Stay and Learn virus testing program provided by the district and Community Health Center of Southeast Kansas will be available for students on Tuesday, he said.
Hessong provided the following graphic:
| Student Absentee % | Tuesday, January 11 | Wednesday, January 12 |
| Fort Scott High School |
143(absent)/573 = 25% | 154(absent)/573 = 26.9% |
| Fort Scott Middle School |
161(absent)/455 = 35.4% | 150(absent)/455 = 33% |
| Eugene Ware Elementary | 103(absent)/357 = 28.9% | 106(absent/357 = 29.6% |
| Winfield Scott Elementary |
82(absent)/385 = 21.3% | 80(absent)/387 = 20.7% |
| Fort Scott Pre-School | 10(absent)/90 = 11.1% | 13(absent)/85 = 15.3% |
I hope the time off and away from people and groups will help reset the health of everyone!!