El Dorado Hills school returns to distance learning after coronavirus cases spike

Oak Ridge High School in El Dorado Hills returned to full distance learning temporarily after the district reported 10 cases of COVID-19 on Monday.

More than 100 students and staff at the high school are quarantining after possibly being exposed to the virus.

Officials said in a statement they are seeing a significant increase in coronavirus cases in schools across El Dorado Union High School District.

“Some areas are seeing dramatic increases more than others are,” the district said. “We are also observing the impact of increased positive cases in the schools and increased quarantines.”

“This decision may become necessary at the individual school level, and we all need to be prepared for a rapid transition. If a school is moved to distance learning, the school shall reopen to hybrid once the number of students and staff quarantining subsides.”

Students will return back to hybrid learning Dec. 8. The district keeps current infection and quarantine information on its website, eduhsd.k12.ca.us.

“As the numbers spike upward, our goal is to keep students, teachers, and staff safe and maintain the hybrid schedule unless we see it cannot be safely managed due to the number of quarantines and availability of substitute teachers,” district officials said.

On Nov. 10, school officials took action to move forward with beginning traditional, full-day, in-person instruction on Jan. 11. Now the district says it will monitor to see if cases subside, and will revisit the decision in the first week of January.

School officials said they are also monitoring sports and activities including band, drama and choir to determine when it is safe to restart these programs.

This story was originally published December 1, 2020 at 9:46 AM.