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ELKINS -- Many students and parents were surprised when they learned, via an early morning phone message from Randolph County Schools, that Friday would be a Remote Learning Day at Elkins High School.
The phone message stated that classes would be operating remotely due to a staffing shortage at the school. Immediately, concerns rose about COVID-19 causing the change -- but vaccinating against the virus was actually the reason.
"We just didn't have enough substitute teachers to staff the building today," said Randolph County Assistant Superintendent Joseph Arbogast. "We had some of our regular teachers off work and there just wasn't enough subs to fill in."
The teachers were off work due to reactions caused from receiving their second dose of the coronavirus vaccination.
"We had several teachers receive their second COVID-19 vaccination and a lot of them have had reactions from it," said Arbogast. "They had some adverse side effects, including some flu-like symptoms, which are common. I don't know personally, but I've heard that the second dose is kind of tough on you. We just couldn't get enough subs to cover at the school, that all it was."
Arbogast said things have been running smoothly since Elkins High School reopened in January and that there haven't been any negative issues to date.
"Since we've opened back up, things have been going really well," he said. "We're continuing to clean and take all necessary steps we need to take in order to keep our students and staff safe."
Most of the EHS teachers off on Friday are age 50-plus and received their second vaccination shots this week.
"The vaccines are getting out as quick as we can get them," said Arbogast. "I wish we would have gotten more of them sooner, but we are getting our staff vaccinated as quick as we can. Most of the 50-plus group have taken their second dose. It's the younger groups of teachers we need to get taken care of now."
Randolph County isn't the only local school system with issues involving a shortage of substitute employees. Both Upshur and Barbour County officials have spoken publicly in recent weeks about facing the same problem, both with substitute teachers and bus drivers.