DINWIDDIE COUNTY, Va. -- The Dinwiddie County School Board voted Tuesday afternoon to temporarily transition to an all-virtual learning model.
The school district will move to all-virtual beginning Thursday, January 14 through Friday, January 29.
School officials say the decision comes after monitoring the COVID-19 Pandemic Metrics provided by the CDC and the Virginia Department of Health.
"Currently, there is a widespread and increasing community spread, and we are now seeing an overwhelming number of students and staff members out for COVID-related illnesses and exposures," said a school spokesperson on Facebook.
"While our schools remain safe, these absences, normal seasonal illnesses, additional leave requests, and limited substitute pools are causing critical employee shortages."
School officials say families will receive a call from their child’s principal in the coming days with information specific to their individual school.
For more on this announcement and changes to the meals program, click here.
Dinwiddie students phased into in-person learning (by grade level) starting in late September.
Over the weekend, Superintendent Dr. Kari Weston said while teachers and school staff want schools to be fully open, it may not be possible until vaccinations were made available.
Teachers are part of the Phase 1b vaccination plan in Virginia which began this week.
In a Monday interview with CBS 6, Dr. Danny Avula, who is leading the Commonwealth's vaccination program, said that he anticipates Central Virginia could join Phase 1B as early as the beginning of next week.
That would mean, some Central Virginia teachers could begin receiving the vaccine as early as next week.
It is not immediately clear when vaccines would be available for Dinwiddie teachers.