COLUMBUS – Governor Mike DeWine says he’s making $2 billion in federal aid available to help schools address pandemic-induced learning gaps.
The number of Ohio students attending school online full-time has declined from 45% of all students in December to less than 15% but the Ohio Department of Education’s fall 2020 enrollment report shows the pandemic has taken a toll on academic progress.
“This should be focused on kids,” DeWine said. “All kids have been hurt, whether they’ve been remote, whether they’ve been hybrid, whether they’ve been in-person, all kids have felt something because of this pandemic.”
The report showed enrollment in Ohio schools declined by 3%, much of it among younger children whose parents waited to send their children to preschool and kindergarten and among older students as high schoolers may have dropped out to get jobs to help contribute to financially strapped families, Superintendent of Public Instruction Paolo DeMaria said during DeWine’s Tuesday coronavirus briefing.
DeWine wants school officials to work with their communities to formulate plans to help students make up for lost time. Those plans may involve longer school years, longer days, summer programs, tutoring, mentoring or remote options. He told them to present their plans to lawmakers by April 1.
DeWine has said he wants K-12 students back into classrooms in Ohio March 1.
-0-
DeWine also announced that nursing home workers who declined the coronavirus vaccine during the first round of shots will be given another opportunity.
Only about one in four employees at nursing homes and assisted living facilities have opted for the vaccine to date.
The governor said Tuesday he’ll announce details of his plan next week to provide continuing access to the vaccine to new residents and staff of such long-term care facilities.
Currently 1.08 million Ohioans have received the first of two vaccine doses and 325,909 individuals, or 2.8% of the state’s total population have completed the vaccination process.
-0-
The number of new cases of COVID-19 continues to remain below the three-week average, with 3,207 reported Tuesday, bringing the total number of cases to 925,350 with 11,793 death, 98 of them reported on Tuesday.
The 181 new hospital admissions brought the total number of Ohioans hospitalized since the beginning of the pandemic to 47,853 but there were only 1,974 patients currently hospitalized, occupying 7.18% of the state’s beds.
The number of hospitalized Ohioans has been below 2,500 for eight straight days. If it remains below 2,500 for seven days as of Thursday, DeWine has said he may announce that a statewide overnight curfew will be lifted.
There were 79,168 active cases and the state’s seven-day positivity rate dropped to 6%.