Nineteen schools in the central Kenai Peninsula will open with only online classes next week as coronavirus infections spread in the area.
The decision, announced Tuesday night, affects 19 schools in Kasilof, Sterling, Soldotna, Kenai and surrounding communities, the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District said in an online statement. The switch comes only days before classes were scheduled to resume on Monday.
All sports will be canceled for the time being.
Other schools on the Kenai Peninsula, including those near Homer and Seward, will open with in-person learning options. The district classified the risk level as low in the southern peninsula and medium in the eastern peninsula.
The affected schools are Aurora Borealis Charter School, Connections Homeschool Kaleidoscope Charter School, K-Beach Elementary School, Kenai Alternative School, Kenai Central High School, Kenai Middle School, Mountain View Elementary School, Nikiski Middle-High School, Nikiski North Star Elementary School, Redoubt Elementary School, River City Academy, Skyview Middle School, Soldotna Elementary School, Soldotna High School, Soldotna Montessori Charter School, Sterling Elementary School and Tustumena Elementary School.
The individual schools will reach out to parents with more information and to answer questions about distance learning, the district said.
The region moved into a higher risk level as cases were announced Tuesday, the district said. Sixteen new cases were reported Tuesday throughout the Kenai Peninsula Borough, and there have been 539 infections since the pandemic began.
The schools will begin offering meals for students’ families to pick up and eat at home beginning Monday, the district said.
The school district’s reopening plan says a small number of students, including special education prekindergarten, Title I prekindergarten, kindergarten and some other students in special education, will be offered in-person learning even as the rest of the school transitions to distance learning.
Superintendent John O’Brien said in a statement that the district hopes to restart in-person learning opportunities after Labor Day if risk levels drop.
“I am disappointed the positive case count appears to be trending with increases in high risk levels,” O’Brien said in the statement. “Every day we will evaluate risk level trends and actual counts.”
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