LPS says the number of students and staff who have tested positive for COVID-19 continues to climb in the first few days of the new semester.
“January 2 through January 8 we had 427 student cases and 144 staff cases,” Dr. Liz Standish said at Monday night’s Board of Education Meeting. “January 9 through yesterday (Monday) we had 248 additional student cases and 18 staff cases.”
Standish says the numbers of those in isolation have also dramatically increased. We had 209 staff members in quarantine and isolation and 1,182 students, so this does impact our ability to operate our schools.”
She said on Monday 33 percent of their certificated staff positions went unfilled. They are also experiencing shortages in custodial and transportation workers and they are anticipating those numbers to keep climbing as the Omicron variant continues to spread in the community.