WOODSTOCK, Ga. — Woodstock High School will close through most of the rest of August, the Cherokee County School District announced on Wednesday. It comes after more than a dozen confirmed COVID-19 cases forced the quarantine of nearly 300 students and staff.
The school district said the closing would be effective at the end of classes Wednesday, with a reopening date targeted for Aug. 31.
It becomes the second high school in the district to close until Aug. 31, following the similar temporary closing of Etowah High School.
The district said in a release that as of Wednesday morning, the number of positive cases at the school had increased to 14, with another 15 tests pending.
Those 14 tests have forced the quarantine of 289 students and staff.
"Should the pending tests prove positive, the total would significantly increase," the district said.
The school district posted this response on its site to the question, "What does this mean for Woodstock HS students?"
All Woodstock HS in-person students will stay home from school until the scheduled reopening on Monday, Aug. 31.
Teachers will spend Thursday, Aug. 13, preparing for the shift to remote learning; the building will be deep-cleaned. Remote learning, through the Canvas learning management system, will begin on Friday, Aug 14, with teachers reporting to school to provide this online instruction.
The closure has no effect on Woodstock HS students already enrolled in Digital Learning. The closure also has no effect on the neighboring Woodstock MS, where no positive cases have been reported.
Students who need to pick up medication or other items that they must have during the next two weeks should call the school’s front office to make an appointment.
Extra-curricular athletic activities will continue after school; this exception is due to the very limited size of these groups and additional safety measures in place (such as temporal scans), but continuation of athletics will be closely monitored for possible closure.
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