After positive case numbers were experienced throughout the district, which in turn caused the school to have a large number of student and staff absences, the district opted to shift into virtual learning during the week of Nov. 8. It was the district's hope to return to in-person learning this week.
That, however, turned out not to be the case.
As reported on the district's website and social media pages, "Addison Community Schools continues to experience positive COVID-19 cases of both students and staff."
The announcement said the Lenawee County Health Department has reported a "surge" in cases, specifically within the Manitou Beach and Addison areas.
Because of the current high case rate and due to the district remaining in virtual learning at this time, district officials stated in the announcement students and staff will remain virtual through Thanksgiving break, with in-person learning resuming Monday, Nov. 29.
"The health and safety of our district continues to be top priority," the announcement said. "In correspondence with the Lenawee Health Department, it is in the best interest of both staff and students to remain virtual through Thanksgiving break."
Addison Superintendent Steve Guerra said a lot of factors and a lot of back-and-forth communication with the health department went into deciding to remain virtual through Thanksgiving break. Most notably, of course, was the number of absences districtwide.
More than 10 staff members and more than 60 students have been quarantined since the district began running into COVID-19 issues last week. Those numbers have since increased.
Two staff members, he said, have been hospitalized, though he did not disclose whether those hospitalizations were due to COVID-19 or for other medical reasons.
"This also gives us a chance to catch our breath and make sure everyone gets healthy," Guerra said. "During conversations with the health department, it was agreed that remaining virtual through Thanksgiving break would be the best thing to mitigate our case numbers. Come Nov. 29, we can hopefully come back then with a full squad and a full team."
During this extended period of virtual learning, buses will be provided to shuttle students from the high school to the Lenawee Intermediate School District Tech Center. Meals will also be distributed from noon to 2 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 18.
"Athletic teams will continue tryouts and practices," the announcement said, "but athletes will be required to be tested two days a week."
This testing mandate, which utilizes the rapid test procedure, is a policy carryover from the spring, Guerra said, when the Michigan High School Athletic Association mandated athletes be tested regularly so they would be able to participate in school athletics during COVID outbreaks or when school had been shifted virtually.
Guerra said Addison's current situation seems very similar to that of this time last year.
"We went for the first nine weeks last year perfectly fine, and then it was our time," he said. "COVID got us. Right now, we are just trying to get though this, we will conduct contact tracing and hopefully we will back to school by the 29th."
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