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Oakridge Public Schools closes for Thanksgiving Week because of staffing issues

CLASSROOM GENERIC
FOX 17
CLASSROOM GENERIC
Posted at 4:58 PM, Nov 19, 2021
and last updated 2021-11-19 16:58:17-05

OAKRIDGE, Mich. — Oakridge Public Schools will close for Thanksgiving Week as it tackles a staffing shortage.

Superintendent Tom Livezey announced his decision in a letter to families Friday.

The district had 10 classrooms with sick teachers unable to attend Friday and no substitute teachers available to take their place, Livezey said.

“Frankly, this exceeded our limit to cover but administrators, enrichment teachers or other support staff found a way to redistribute kids and cover classrooms,” Livezey said. “None of them had a break today. It was a tough day in these buildings. But please express your gratitude toward them. They’re doing all they can to keep kids in school!”

Daily district student attendance has varied mostly between 82-90%.

Currently, 3.7% of the district's students have documented positive cases of COVID-19, along with 4.4% of staff. The rest of the absences are for other illnesses or other reasons.

8.6% of students aged 5-11 have their first vaccine dose in Muskegon County, along with 35% of students aged 12-15 and 44% of students aged 16-19.

Copyright 2021 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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