Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
By ZACHARY MARANO
MERCER, Wis. — Mercer School District officials decided Monday night to close school for the rest of this week because of an increase in COVID-19 cases. Classes will be held virtually until in-person learning returns next week, District Administrator Sheri Kopka said.
“Due to the uptick of cases, both at school and in the community, we are electing to move all pre-K to 12 students to virtual learning, beginning (Tuesday). The two- and three-year-old program will also be closed. The health, safety and education of our students and staff is our priority, so we feel it best to have students on virtual until cases start to decrease,” Kopka said on Monday.
Kopka said that the two- and thee-year-old and pre-K to 6th grade programs will return to school Monday, Sept. 20, and the 7th to 12th grade program will return Tuesday, Sept. 21. They will not have any basketball, volleyball or football games or practices until students return. The Mercer School District’s fitness center will be closed until Wednesday, Sept. 22.
Kopka said that on Friday, seven students and staff tested positive for COVID-19 and on Monday, the school conducted 89 tests and 11 came back positive.
“None of those (who tested positive on Monday) were staff members, some of them were students, but a lot of those were actually family members and community people as well. But in our closed-knit community, with people having siblings in multiple grades and multiple ages, we decided it was best to close all of it for the rest of the week until we restart next week,” Kopka said.
Students will have to wear masks or be tested for COVID-19 when they come back to school next week, Kopka said.
On Tuesday, the school had all teachers ensure that students could log into and access their online materials and had Wi-Fi for learning. Links to teachers’ online Zoom rooms and Google Classrooms can be found on the school website — mercer.k12.wi.us.
All teachers that can be in the building will be teaching from school during virtual learning. If students need any items for virtual learning, they can pick them up in the school’s front office. The school will also have breakfast and lunch available to order prior to 9 a.m. and to pick up in front of the school beginning at noon.