The Athens City School District, or ACSD, announced it will reopen for in-person classes Tuesday after closing due to a shortage of transportation workers.
On Aug. 26, just days after classes began, the district closed temporarily with plans to reopen shortly after, according to a previous Post report. Several incidents of COVID-19 infection and exposure among transportation staff resulted in the district's inability to provide transportation for students, ACSD Superintendent Tom Gibbs said.
The closure was extended Aug. 30 due to the quarantine of six transportation employees and the unrelated injury of another. Faculty met that week via Zoom to determine how to proceed and plan for future outbreaks.
An announcement on the ACSD website notified the community that, barring unforeseen circumstances, the district will reopen for classes Sept. 7.
The announcement explains there is still a shortage of transportation staff, resulting in the combination of several bus routes. The same routes were combined for the first couple days of school.
According to the website, the district has received several applicants for the open transportation positions. However, commercial driver’s license training takes four to eight weeks, causing a potential delay in training.
The district indicated that it is also short on substitute teachers and encouraged anyone who is interested in becoming a substitute teacher to contact the office for an application. Any individual with a bachelor’s degree is able to apply.
