The coughs, runny noses and high fevers of students and staff in Edmond area schools resulted in a shutdown this week.
Classes were called off in Edmond schools on Friday, Jan. 31, 2025 like many other central Oklahoma districts due to reported illnesses.
“Because of an increasing number of student and staff absences this week, we have made the difficult decision to close school for all Edmond Public Schools for tomorrow, Friday, January 31st. Extracurricular activities will continue as scheduled,” a statement from the Edmond School district posted on Facebook Thursday read.
The Edmond announcement continued, “This decision was made in advance to give our families and staff members time to prepare. We will let you know as soon as possible how this instructional time will be made up.
“We look forward to seeing your students back in class on Monday morning.”
Edmond schools were open Thursday, while other area schools were closed. Oklahoma City Schools were closed Friday.
Deer Creek and Piedmont schools were closed all day Thursday and Friday due to the number of illnesses and absences reported. Deer Creek students had remote learning to keep up with at home.
A statement from Deer Creek read: “Deer Creek School District will be moving to Remote Learning Days for Jan. 30 and 31, 2025 due to significant staffing shortages district-wide. Antler Care will be closed. “
The Deer Creek statement continued:
“As you likely know, the flu and similar illnesses have hit our state particularly hard this season. While we have tried our best to weather the storm and keep school in session, we do not currently have enough staff members district-wide to safely transport students to and from school. Additionally, our fill rate for guest teachers (substitutes) is approaching 50 percent, which is much lower than normal.
When deciding between canceling school and switching to a Remote Learning Day, we look at our timing and ability to prepare work to be completed at home and how we can best protect our school calendar. We are moving forward with remote learning days on Thursday and Friday of this week to ensure we do not have to extend the school year in May.
If your student is sick and unable to complete remote learning, please email the school’s attendance line so that your child will have extra time to complete the assignments, per our district attendance policy. If your child is not at school today but will be able to complete the remote learning over the next two days, you are welcome to pick up their device before the end of the school day.”
Previously scheduled athletic competitions will continue as they are able.
We are asking our families, students, and staff to spend the next four days doing everything they can to avoid the spread of sickness. We will take the next two days to thoroughly sanitize our schools.“
Schools in Guthrie, Mustang and Norman also closed today, with students given instructions for remote/virtual learning.
In Guthrie the district released the following announcement: “Due to staff issues with illness, Guthrie Public Schools will shift to virtual learning for Thursday and Friday. Teachers who are not out on leave will be available in their classrooms to answer questions about virtual lessons they have posted on the various virtual learning platforms we utilize over the next two days through email. Although student absences have been normal for this time of year in our district, staff absences will not allow us to effectively open for in-person instruction for the remainder of the week. We began a comprehensive disinfection of our buildings with some of the tools acquired during the pandemic and will continue during the next two days as we look forward to a return to in-person instruction next Monday.”
Putnam City Schools were being monitored with closings decisions to be made on a site-by-site basis, the district reported.
Oklahoma City Public Schools also will close today, Friday, Jan. 31 and are scheduled to resume Monday.