Breaking News: SMSD to move to remote learning after Thanksgiving break

The Shawnee Mission School District officially announced on Nov. 16 that both middle and high school students will return to remote learning on Nov. 30. 

This will last through first semester — which ends on Jan. 22. However, elementary school students will continue to remain in-person for the time being. 

In an email addressed to SMSD families, Superintendent Dr. Mike Fulton emphasized that the reason for the shutdown is not due to COVID-19 transmission within schools. 

“We continue to see schools doing an excellent job of implementing mitigating factors such as social distancing, mask-wearing, hand washing and completing daily COVID-19 assessments,” Fulton said in the email. “Those actions seem to be working to keep transmission low within schools.”

Fulton explained that the reason behind SMSD’s decision to move to remote learning is the lack of substitutes available to staff school buildings due to an increase of employees in isolation and quarantine. 

“Implementing remote learning for our secondary students will allow us to shift critical resources such as substitutes to the elementary level,” Fulton said in the email. 

SMSD has advised that families take extra precautions as they enter Thanksgiving break in order to give elementary students the best opportunity to stay in-person. 

“Community transmission levels could impact our ability to staff elementary schools and to perform necessary contact tracing to identify potential spread within our buildings,” Fulton said in the email.

Senior Mary Scimeca supports SMSD’s decision to move middle and high school students to remote learning. 

“I think the ideas [behind hybrid learning] were there, with social distancing and wearing masks, but I feel like there isn’t enough regulations when kids at school get COVID because I’ve heard of people going to school — even if they have COVID,” Scimeca said.