Dear WCSD Families:
As a result of a conversation yesterday among area superintendents and health officials from several organizations, our district’s executive leadership team has determined that the Westerville City Schools should open the 2020-21 Academic Year under a 100% remote learning model and not the blended learning model originally recommended. We will remain ready to transition immediately to a blended learning model at any time, but only when identified data leading to this decision shows the improvement recommended by these same health officials.
We realize this is not the news some of our families hoped to hear. However, several factors have prompted our decision. Though there was a recent short-term improvement to some key data being monitored, according to Franklin County Public Health and Columbus Public Health, the confirmed rate of COVID-19 cases in our region over the last four to six weeks, as well as the ratio of daily cases compared to the total population, continue to trend upward and remain concerning to them.
The recommendation from Franklin County Public Health and Columbus Public Health officials is that schools should not reopen under any model that provides in-person instruction, but instead should open under a remote learning model. Health officials said that schools could consider offering blended learning with in-person instruction only when there is at least a sustained positive trend in the data they are monitoring, and only if the county is also at a Level 3 or better on the state’s Public Health Advisory Alert System.
Read the complete announcement here.