BONDUEL, WI- Bonduel public school students K-12 will be doing virtual learning for a week. District Superintendent Joel Dawidziak said it was based mostly on the number of staff available for in-person learning this week.

“We had staff covering for each other and we had staff losing prep time just to fill in.”

Dawidziak said they have run out of rapid tests so there is no quick way to determine if a staff member or student is COVID positive right now.  “Some of our staff tested last week Thursday or Friday, and we can’t even communicate back with them to let them know when they can come back to work, because they don’t have results yet.”

He said not all staff are missing due to positive COVID-19 tests, but in some cases, they are waiting out symptoms or in quarantine.

“We have staff being stretched to their absolute limit and there comes a point where you exhaust that too,” Dawidziak said. “It is happing so much that I feel bad that we have to have our staff in that position.”

In addition, Bonduel is currently operating on old quarantine guidelines which could have people in quarantine for 10 days or more.

“We will be having a discussion to move to the new guidelines coming up here,” Dawidziak said. “This is the last resort for us.”

He says there is not a threshold or a certain number of staff needed on a given day to fulfill the student’s educational needs.

“It is COVID related, the inability to get staff results back in a quick time and the inability to cover what needs to be covered this week.”

Back in October of 2020, Bonduel had a brief virtual education period before returning face-to-face.

For this week, staff will be reporting to the school to provide virtual education. Families will be informed on what the students should expect for the week.

He said given what they know now. they will be able to return students on Tuesday the 25th. Monday the 24th is already a scheduled day off for students.

After-school activities including games and practices are still on for now. Since staff will be in school, they will be available by email or phone if any parents have any questions or concerns.

It was also noted that students in grades 6-12 will have the option to come to school for internet access in the High School / Middle School library in 90-minute blocks with parent approval. Each session will be limited to 15 students and is first come- first serve.

“We fully understand the burden and inconvenience this action places on parents. We will work with you to the greatest degree possible to make the next four days as successful and pain-free as possible.”