P-J file photo by Cameron Hurst

A lack of staffing is plaguing area school districts that have been forced to move to a remote model until Jan. 4 due to teachers and aides being placed in quarantine.

Starting today, students within the Brocton Central School District will go to full remote learning. Superintendent Jason Delcamp said there was a COVID-19 exposure impacting four staff members in the district. He said other employees also remain in quarantine due to outside exposure.

Delcamp said the switch to remote learning is through Dec. 22 and in-person learning will resume following winter break. “Obviously, I’m disappointed,” Delcamp said. “There’s nothing better than in-person learning, but health and safety is the most important thing right now.”

He said a lack of substitute teachers also made it difficult to continue educating students in-person. Remote learning will be aided in laptops given to students.

According to the state’s COVID-19 report card, three students learning off-site at Brocton Middle-High School have tested positive for the virus.

One on-site teacher also has tested positive to date.

Gowanda Central School, which serves Cattaraugus and Erie counties, has been on a remote model since Nov. 30 due to Erie County being classified in a yellow zone. Superintendent Dr. Robert Anderson said the move to the virtual learning model has reduced virus transmission in the school, but concerns remain high.

“Although our school community has been fortunate with few cases until Thanksgiving, after Thanksgiving has been a different story,” Anderson wrote in a letter to the school community on Friday. “Since this time, the number of staff that are not present due to isolation or quarantine order or other COVID-19 related reasons has prevented the school from reopening in any in-person model. For example … there are 18 staff members in the (high school, middle school) complex alone that are either positive, isolated, or quarantined due to COVID-19.”

Anderson also said the yellow zone designation requires school districts or buildings in these identified areas to test 20% of their staff and students for COVID-19, which would permit in-person instruction at our school(s). “Within the next few weeks, we will be sending home additional information and permission slips for families regarding COVID-19 testing to satisfy this state testing requirement to help prepare for the possibility of reopening to hybrid in-person instruction,” he said.

In southern Chautauqua County, Frewsburg Central Schools is facing the same issue. The district began its remote model for the middle and high school on Dec. 10 after it announced a shortage of staff due to recent virus cases. “Now, more than ever, it is important for everyone to do their part in helping to stem the spread of COVID-19 so that we can safely return to in-person instruction for all of our students as soon as Jan. 4,” Superintendent Shelly O’Boyle said.