Barren County Schools announced Tuesday they will use NTI days for the rest of the week due to staffing shortages and the increased number of COVID-19 infections among staff and students.
(WCLU NEWS FILE PHOTO)
By Jordan Smith, special to WCLU
GLASGOW — Barren County Schools’ campuses will be closed for the remainder of the week.
The school system announced the closures Monday afternoon. District officials said staffing shortages and the high rate of COVID-19 cases and quarantines among students and staff are reasons to close campuses.
The school district will use NTI days from Wednesday, Jan. 19 through Friday, Jan. 21, and teachers will be communicating daily assignments, according to their website.
Barren County Schools has 149 active student infections, 629 quarantined students, 39 staff infections and 21 quarantined staff, according to the district’s COVID-19 dashboard data published Jan. 14.
This information comes after Glasgow Independent Schools decided Saturday to close Glasgow High due to the same reasons. The school system also plans to use NTI days for the remainder of the week. The closure is only for Glasgow High. All other Glasgow campuses remain open as usual.
The positive case numbers and confirmed quarantines were significantly higher in the high school than the other schools, said Glasgow’s Supervisor of Instruction, Tara Martin.
There are 20 confirmed COVID-19 infections at Glasgow High School. That’s double the number at Glasgow Middle School and South Green Elementary. Those schools have 10 confirmed cases.
Glasgow Independent Schools has 51 positive students cases and 67 are quarantined. There are 15 ongoing infections among staff and 5 quarantines, according to their dashboard.
Both Barren and Glasgow Schools say they will reevaluate whether to continue with NTI days or return to in-person learning near the end of the week.
