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Lancaster ISD students will not be returning to the classroom this week after their winter break.
The district announced Friday its decision to move to virtual learning online amid mounting COVID-19 cases throughout North Texas.
In a statement posted to its website, Lancaster cited the surge in infections driven by the omicron variant, limited hospital beds across the region and Dallas County’s move last week to raise the coronavirus threat level to red.
“While we know this extended time of online learning presents challenges for some families, given our current pandemic status, it is necessary to prevent students from returning next week, only to have to send them home again before the end of the week,” the statement said.
Dallas County’s COVID-19 cases on Friday were nearly double that of the day before, and the average number of new daily cases in the county for the last two weeks is a more than threefold increase from the previous 14-day period.
Parkland Memorial Hospital’s emergency room saw 997 patients last Tuesday, a one-day record for the hospital, while the positivity rate for the virus across the Cook Children’s Health Care System quadrupled in just one week.
“While we are doing all we can to continue in-person learning for all, until this pandemic is under control, the possibility that there will be a need to shift to on-line learning again remains constant,” the statement said.
As of Sunday, many Dallas-Fort Worth area schools plan to return in person, including Dallas ISD.
For Lancaster students and families, Tuesday will be a “transition day,” allowing students to orientate themselves to online classes.
The district plans to reassess its decision by Friday, Jan. 7. If the district does return to in-person settings as early as next week, it said it plans to maintain quarantine protocols, prohibit visitors on campus and continue optional daily testing for students whose parents have consented.