KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Gardner Edgerton School District will follow the recommendation of Johnson County and begin the school year remotely for middle and high school students.
Elementary students will go to school in-person, which is consistent with the gating criteria adopted by the Johnson County Department of Health and Environment. Older students will have classes remotely until at least Sept. 30.
The criteria looks at the 14-day moving average of positivity rate, the number of average new COVID-19 cases per day and the number of new cases per 100,000 residents.
Currently, the county has a positivity rate of 11.4%, putting it in the “red zone.”
“No matter how the data is presented, the level of transmission of COVID-19 in the county is too high for our students and staff to safely return to the in-person or hybrid learning models,” the district said in a document of frequently asked questions.
Parents of elementary school children who have concerns about sending their child to school can opt to enroll them in remote learning instead, according to the district.
Gardner Edgerton students return to class on Sept. 9.
In Johnson County, the Blue Valley School District is the only one that has yet to announce its back-to-school plans. The district's Board of Education voted on Tuesday to rescind the Johnson County gating criteria. It plans to release reopening plans on Friday.
