Carson City School District to close all schools Thursday and Friday

The Carson City School District announced school closures for Thursday and Friday citing “challenges” for staffing, district spokesman Dan Davis told the Nevada Appeal Wednesday night.

“I don’t have any figures … but forecasting was proving (Thursday) to be challenging in terms of staffing,” Davis said. “The decision was made to cancel for (Thursday).”

The majority of all extracurricular activities such as volleyball and wrestling previously had been canceled for middle and high school with men’s basketball being the “holdout,” Davis confirmed, but it, too, has been called off after Wednesday’s announcement.

This week, staffing resources have taken a toll from the newest COVID-19 and flu-related illnesses. The Carson City School District joined Clark County School District, which announced a five-day pause Tuesday, and the Lake Tahoe Unified School District, which also announced canceled classes Wednesday.

Schools will be subjected to a full cleaning and sanitization process during the two-day closure, and no meals will be prepared or distributed during this time, according to the press release from the school district. Monday is an already scheduled day off due to the Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday. 

Davis said Carson City continues to cooperate with Carson City Health and Human Services as it makes decisions regarding the health of its staff and students.

“Each school is monitoring its attendance daily and will continue to work with the health department on making decisions around school closures,” Davis said. “The school district was provided data concerning the percentage of employees who were vaccinated prior to reopening in the fall. At that time, the health department advised that 74% of CCSD employees were vaccinated, and we assume that number has increased since the beginning of the school. Additionally, population statistics for Carson City are available at www.nvhealthresponse.nv.gov; as of (Wednesday) morning, it indicates 71.12 percent of the population of Carson City age 5 and older have initiated their vaccine series.”

According to gethealthycarsoncity.org, the results of the most recent COVID-19 surveillance summary available on gethealthycarsoncity.org for Dec. 19, 2021 to Jan. 1, 2022, 10 student case investigations were completed in this timeframe, and of these cases, 40% attended school while infectious. Three school faculty members tested positive for COVID-19 and 67% attended while infectious.

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ORIGINAL PRESS RELEASE FROM SCHOOL DISTRICT:
Due to the strain on staffing resources caused by the recent surge in illness (COVID-19, flu related or otherwise) and out of an abundance of caution, all schools in the Carson City School District will close for two days, Thursday and Friday, Jan. 13-14, 2022. With the observed Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday this Monday, students and employees are expected to return to school Tuesday, Jan. 18, 2022.

Prior to returning Tuesday, the district would encourage parents, families and employees to continue to conduct Daily Self-Screenings.

If any employee or student is actively exhibiting any illness symptoms, the district encourages them to remain home. Please refer to the Revised Isolation and Quarantine Guidance provided by the county health department.

While students and staff are out, the schools will undergo thorough cleaning and sanitizing. Additionally, no meals will be prepared and distributed during the temporary closure.

 For more information on this announcement,  visit CarsonCitySchools.com.