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RIVERTON — Jordan School District voted to move 14 of its 15 schools to remote learning during an emergency meeting on Wednesday following an increase in COVID-19 cases.
Officials voted 6-1 in favor of moving Riverton High School to remote learning on Monday, Nov. 16. The high school will have in-person learning on Thursday and normal virtual learning on Friday.
West Jordan High School currently has 17 positive COVID 19 cases, 70 students on quarantine, and a rate of 40 percent of students absent. West Jordan recently just transitioned from online back to in-person learning, but will have in-person class on Thursday, a normal virtual day Friday, and go back to remote instruction beginning Monday.
Bingham High School is reporting 30 positive COVID 19 cases with 245 students in quarantine, and a rate of 25 percent absent students. Bingham will have an in-person class on Thursday, a normal virtual day Friday, a waiver day Monday, and online learning starting Tuesday, Nov. 17.
Riverton, West Jordan, and Bingham all received one dissenting vote for the motion due to a concern that the school should be moved to remote learning immediately, rather than waiting until Monday.
The board then moved to vote on Elk Ridge Middle School, due to its number of cases. According to officials, Elk Ridge currently has 22 positive COVID-19 cases, and 25 percent of its student body is in quarantine. The number of cases has taken a toll on staff, some of whom are in quarantine themselves, officials said.
The board voted unanimously to transition Elk Ridge to online learning starting Friday. Thursday will be taken as a waiver day, with a normal virtual class on Friday, and remote instruction beginning Monday, Nov. 16.
Copper Mountain Middle School, Mountain Creek Middle School, Fort Herriman Middle School, Hidden Valley Middle School, South Jordan Middle School, Sunset Ridge Middle School, West Hills Middle School, West Jordan Middle School, Herriman High School and Mountain Ridge High School will all be following the same schedule as Elk Ridge with Thursday being taken as a waiver day, with a normal virtual class on Friday, and remote instruction beginning Monday, Nov. 16th.
- Copper Mountain Middle School had 211 students in quarantines, 12 positive COVID-19 cases, and one-third of the school out on Wednesday. Copper Mountain Middle School will be allowing small groups to enter the school according to administrators' discretion.
- Mountain Creek Middle School had 13 positive COVID-19 cases. A survey done by the school board reported that a large amount of the faculty was reported to be exhausted.
- Fort Herriman Middle School had 16 positive COVID-19 cases with 113 students in quarantine.
- Hidden Valley Middle School had 203 students in quarantine and reported 13 positive COVID-19 cases. "It doesn't feel sustainable," board member Matthew Young said of keeping the school in person.
- South Jordan Middle School had 15 positive COVID-19 cases and 10 percent of students in quarantine. Nearly 22 percent of students were reported absent on Wednesday.
- Sunset Ridge Middle School reported 15 COVID-19 cases with 295 students absent including those 110 students who were in quarantine.
- West Hills Middle School had 13 positive COVID-19 cases, with 279 students in quarantine. The school is currently reporting a 37 percent absentee rate.
- West Jordan Middle School had 10 positive COVID-19 cases with 42 students in quarantine. 40 percent of students were and the school expects more cases to come in next couple of days, according to officials.
Herriman High School reported 32 positive COVID-19 cases, with 205 cases of quarantine.
Mountain Ridge High School reported 25 positive COVID-19 cases with it trending upwards, and high quarantine cases. They are similarly concerned about attendance with the rate dropping 10 percent.
All schools that are transitioning to remote learning are expected to return to in-person learning on Nov. 30 after Thanksgiving Break, if numbers have seen a decrease.
Oquirahh Hills Middle School was the only school discussed in the emergency board meeting to remain open. Oquirahh Hills is reporting nine positive COVID-19 cases, with quarantine numbers lowering. School officials reported that they weren't as concerned as other schools over attendance rate because their numbers weren't as low. The school will be sending out a vigilance letter to the community "We will be vigilant to your school and monitoring it," said Young. "In person, learning is vital to me."
Correction: A previous headline on this story said that Jordan School District decided to move 14 of its 15 schools to online learning. The district has many more schools; 15 was the number of schools under consideration under consideration for moving to online learning at Wednesday's board meeting.
