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COVID closes Ozark schools until Jan. 24

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Students in the Ozark School District were dismissed from class on Jan. 18, and won’t return until Jan. 24.

Due to a high rate of illnesses, including COVID-19, school district administrators announced that the schools would close for the remainder of the week, and plan to reopen Monday, Jan. 24.

“I want all of our families to know that we absolutely believe the best place for students to learn is in the classroom and seated. However, we have reached a time in which the school district is struggling to maintain operations,” Ozark Superintendent Chris Bauman said in a video message to students and parents.

Bauman said that Ozark has a large number of students and teachers who are ill.

“We knew that this time, potentially, could come, and here it is,” Bauman said.

Teachers and staff members have been instructed not to do any virtual learning programs from Jan. 19-21.

“They will be three free days, if you will, forgiveness days in which we will not provide instruction, so that our families, our students, our staff can work on healing and getting better,” Bauman said. “Our goal here is to get better and be healthy.”

Extracurricular activities may still happen, but will be evaluated case by case. Students who take classes at Ozarks Technical Community College are, for the moment, instructed to attend as scheduled.

Prior to the return to class on Jan. 18, following a day off for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, the Ozark School District announced that it had run out of COVID-19 tests, and would not be able to provide tests to students, teachers and staff members for the near future.


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