A Contra Costa County school district is dealing with a sudden shift in attitudes about in-person learning.
Despite a relatively low rate of COVID cases among students and staff, hundreds of parents are moving their kids back to all virtual learning -- and that has created a significant staffing problem at the Mount Diablo Unified School District.
Superintendent Dr. Adam Clark said the district is quickly working to move staff from classrooms to virtual classrooms. The district said it needs about 12 teachers to make the change.
"We've asked for volunteers," Clark said. "And if we don't have enough volunteers, we have to do involuntary transfers."
The number of students requesting distance learning in two weeks has jumped from 150 to 500.
Meanwhile, the district so far this school year has reported 47 COVID cases among the 28,000 students.
"One is too many, I want to acknowledge that, but in terms of percentages it is a very low percent," Clark said.
The administration said it is working to make the changes quickly to fulfill the requests to distance learning from parents.
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It is something the Herrera family appreciates, in terms of having the flexibility to choose in-person or distance learning.
Parents Vienna and Josue Herrera said they prefer in-person instruction, but want whatever is safer for their kids.
