KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The surge of COVID-19 cases in the Kansas City metro has many school districts reverting to remote learning.
"This is not where as a community we hope to be heading into the holiday season," Mike Fulton, Shawnee Mission School District superintendent, said earlier this month.
Among the schools shifting some of their students to virtual learning are:
- Olathe, Shawnee Mission and Blue Valley (secondary students).
- All students in the Park Hill School District.
- Blue Springs (sixth through 12th graders).
Peggy Tuttle, who who has three daughters in Shawnee Mission, said the district is making the right decision to send students home in response to COVID-19.
"I think they made it about six weeks too late. I have really been uncomfortable with that all along," Tuttle said. "I'm sure some naysayers would say, 'Well, then why'd you let your kids go back? But, it was -- it was a worthy experiment, and I feel pretty confident that that's why the numbers have skyrocketed."
Tuttle said she is honest with her children about the pandemic, which is why they understand that their school situation is changing.
"I was raised this way, to be frank with your kids, just saying these numbers are awful, showing the graphs," Tuttle said. "I've shown the graphs to my kids. I've told them the numbers here at the University of Kansas Health System. We talked; it's very very frankly, this is what's going on."
Fulton said they are trying to put staff and students' safety first.
"We all have to work together to stop the spread of COVID-19 in our community," Fulton said. "And that's in order to keep our elementary schools open and personal learning and one day return our secondary students to in person learning."
