take over classrooms. Often, Felhofer ….

take over classrooms. Often, Felhofer said, a substitute may be found, but they are not specifically trained for the class subject matter they’re covering. That means students are not getting as much out of the classes as they normally would.

Felhofer said the district has only four or five regular subs on which to count, and it has had multiple teachers unavailable at times.

“The last few weeks, we were pretty close a couple of days” to not having enough staff to conduct classes, Felhofer said.

And, he noted, it’s not just teachers who may be in short supply. The food service, office and janitorial staffs have also had people missing time due to COVID-19.

For the next two weeks, Felhofer said classes will be conducted online, with teachers instructed to present “condensed” versions of lectures, etc., to hold student attention. The district has been teaching in 90-minute blocks to cut down on class interchange traffic, but those are long periods for online learning.

Also, Felhofer said the district is trying to help students who may not have secure online connections. Computer time in the library will be made available to students during the closure, but the numbers will be limited and students should call in for an appointed time.

Felhofer said Greenwood opted against a longer school closure which some schools are taking in the hope that a short pause will be enough to resume regular instruction.

“Getting to the 12th week, I think we’ve done pretty well,” he said. “A lot of other districts were looking to shut down (for longer time periods). We’re trying to be less dramatic, shall we say. We see this as a strategic move right now … If it goes off the rails even more, we could extend it. Our goal is to bring everyone back in person on Dec. 7.”