Sugar-Salem School District cancels school on Friday
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SUGAR CITY — The Sugar-Salem School District is canceling school on Friday due to staff shortages.
“We are currently experiencing staff shortages due to this latest round of illness that is coursing through our community,” Superintendent Chester Bradshaw wrote in a letter to families Thursday. “Our student attendance is hovering around 90%, which is not terrible in and of itself, but the adults in our buildings are uncharacteristically absent.”
The district is especially short on bus drivers and custodial staff.
“I am down four bus drivers. In a little small district like Sugar, that’s a struggle. I actually was driving a bus today,” Bradshaw told EastIdahoNews.com.
He explained typically the district employs 13 or 14 bus drivers.
The letter continued to say, “(We) have some of our existing teachers and support staff coming to work sick because we are unable to find substitutes and others covering multiple bus routes and working extra shifts to keep us going.”
Bradshaw said staff came back from a long holiday weekend feeling sick, rather than healthy.
“I would just say our students are handling this really well, it’s the adults that are struggling. I’ve been here four years. We haven’t had adult absentees like we’ve had this week,” he said. “We had to cancel our Title I programs because we were short-staffed to run those this week and that’s not typical for us. We are typically a pretty healthy district.”
The Sugar-Salem School District will reassess on Sunday to see if school will be in session on Monday.
Connor Academy in Chubbuck is also closed Friday and Alturas International Academy and Alturas Preparatory Academy have canceled classes through Wednesday due to a high number of absences.