DENVER — A crippling staffing shortage has forced Denver Public Schools to make some major changes.
DPS announced Tuesday that three schools — Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Early College, George Washington High School, and John H. Amesse Elementary School — will switch to remote learning this week. In-classroom learning is expected to continue next week.
Students at George Washington High School will be learning remotely Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. Those at Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Early College, and John H. Amesse Elementary School are scheduled for remote learning Thursday and Friday of this week.
District officials said they are trying everything they can to keep schools open, but a shortage of staff has reached a critical level and it’s impacting their ability to safely operate some schools.
“We have a process in place where our administrators are going school by school, case by case, and school leader by school leader, to evaluate whether each school is safe to operate. When it’s not, we temporarily move to remote learning so that our students still have access to instruction despite the staffing issues,” said DPS Director of Communications Will Jones in a statement.
Jones said schools are evaluating the situation daily and will communicate to students and families by 4 p.m. the day before they decide to switch to remote learning.
Other districts in the Denver metro area and dealing with staffing challenges as well. Adams 14, Adams 12 Five, and the Boulder Valley School District announced last week that classes would be canceled for all students this Friday due to staffing challenges.
It’s not clear what is causing staffing issues in school districts in Denver and around the country.
