Lincoln Public Schools sent out a new email concerning staff shortages and the rise of absences on Jan. 14. On Jan. 21, 28 and Feb. 4, LPS schools will be closed to students and classes will not be in session. 

COVID-19 concerns have been going on since 2020 as students continue into 2022. Now LPS is looking to mitigate the staffing shortages and the increase in absences.

“I think we are constantly trying to reevaluate our best practice for the classroom and our school community,” Mr. Thomas Nettleton said. “I think the best practice is something that’s difficult to achieve, but it’s a worthy goal.”

In the past few months the total number of COVID-19 Cases have been rising. At Southwest, 116 individuals have gotten COVID-19 in the past two weeks, according to recent email notifications about the number of cases per weekday. 

“I feel like it [the Fridays off] could be good for kids and bad for the kids depending on their work ethic and how well they do stuff,” junior Justin Devoogd said.

During the most recent MTSS-B lesson, Zoom practice was utilized to reinstitute the  latest Zoom features and functions so LPS can transition in the case of remote learning for a short time. LPS has strictly stated in the recent MTSS-B presentation that the district will not shut down, nor will we go back to hybrid learning.

The Career Academy notified its students however that TCA will still remain open and in session on those listed Fridays. TCA classes will be in session in consideration of dual credit instructional hour requirements and scheduling limitations.