2 Alabama schools go virtual after positive COVID-19 test

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Emily Williams, third-grade teacher of Austinville Elementary, left, helps her daughter Lily, 3, as her two sons Braden, 10, bottom left, and Landen, 8, complete school assigned virtual assignments on Friday, March 20, 2020, at their home in Decatur, Ala. (Dan Busey/The Decatur Daily via AP)

More than 1,200 students at two small-town Alabama schools will begin the year at home after a person connected with both tested positive for COVID-19.

While 12 other Lawrence County schools planned to begin traditional classes Wednesday morning, Superintendent Jon Bret Smith told the Decatur Daily that students from the elementary and middle schools in Moulton, located in north Alabama, would start the academic year taking classes online.

Education officials learned Monday that a person linked to both schools had tested positive for the disease caused by the coronavirus, and state health officials recommended delaying the reopening by two weeks. Combined, the schools have more than 1,200 students and 105 workers.

School officials notified 10 people who have been in contact with the person, Smith said, and the system is distributing computers to students from both schools so classes can be conducted virtually.

Adam Campbell and his wife have two children at Moulton Elementary School. He said they weren’t upset with the school system but also aren’t sure how online learning will work.

“We don’t have reliable internet where we live,” he said. “It’s frustrating. We just didn’t plan for this and that’s my fault.”

About 15 miles (24 kilometers) away in Decatur, nearly three dozen students at Austin High School must begin the year in quarantine using online learning because two people in the band tested positive for COVID-19, WAAY-TV reported.

“I was kind of disappointed because I’ve been quarantined since about March now and band was kind of my way out, plus school,” said Jada McClendon, a sophomore horn player.

Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.