Cape district to maintain hybrid model of instruction

Cape Henlopen schools will continue to operate under a hybrid model of instruction, Superintendent Bob Fulton said in a Dec. 4 email to district families.

The announcement comes a day after Gov. John Carney announced additional restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic, including a recommendation that Delaware schools pause in-person learning beginning Dec. 14 and transition to remote learning through Jan. 8 to support districts with significant operational challenges due to increased positive COVID-19 cases and the number of staff members that may have to quarantine with each positive case.   

“Since the beginning of the school year, we have had 49 positive COVID-19 cases,” Fulton stated. “This is out of approximately 5,000 students and/or staff involved in our in-person or hybrid reopening model and equates to less than a 1 percent positive rate.  During that same time period, and for precautionary purposes, we had to quarantine 27 staff members. That number is out of more than 1,200 total staff working in our schools. It is also important to note that none of the 27 staff members who we quarantined tested positive for COVID-19.

“For these reasons,” the email continued, “the Cape Henlopen School District will continue to operate under our in-person, hybrid, and remote models of instruction, the same models we have been following since the beginning of the school year. We will not be following the recommendation of the governor to pause hybrid instruction due to significant operational concerns, because at this point, we are not experiencing them.”

The district will pivot to 100 percent remote instruction if it faces significant operational issues or feels that providing in-person instruction compromises student and staff safety, Fulton said.

“I am extremely proud of everyone involved with our reopening efforts and in particular, the dedication and unwavering focus on following the COVID-19 protocols established in our reopening plan,” Fulton stated. “This has been a total team effort, including students, staff and parents/families. We could not be providing in-person, hybrid, and remote instruction to our 6,000 students without all members of our Cape team doing their part and, in so many cases, going above and beyond to do what is best for our amazing students.”