Littleton Public Schools Moves To 100% Remote Learning

LITTLETON, CO — Littleton Public Schools is moving to 100 percent remote learning as the coronavirus pandemic spreads throughout the city, district officials announced Wednesday night.

Monday will be a 'non-student day' to give teachers, staff and families a day to prepare for the transition. Then beginning Tuesday, all students will learn remotely "possibly for the rest of the fall semester," district officials said.

Arapahoe County has moved to the stricter 'Level Orange' on Colorado's COVID-19 Dial, which requires the school district to quarantine more students and staff with each new positive coronavirus case. Resources with the Tri-County Health Department are strained and the school district said the burden of contact tracing was at risk of becoming unmanageable. Staffing and substitute shortages are also getting worse, the district said.

Since the beginning of school, the district has confirmed around 140 positive cases and around 90 quarantines among students and staff, officials said.

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Brian Ewert, the district's superintendent, said schools have "reached the tipping point in the system where in-person learning is no longer feasible."

"While we wish we could have given families more time to prepare for this shift, with as quickly as quarantines are increasing, it is likely that many of our schools would have needed to make the shift to remote learning by next week anyway," Ewert said in a letter to students, staff and parents.

"We know many parents and staff have been planning ahead for this possibility and we truly appreciate everyone's flexibility and patience."

>> More information about the LPS shift to 100 percent online learning can be found here.