Wenatchee School District Battling Staffing Issues as COVID Cases Rise

School districts across the region continue to struggle with keeping the doors open as the surge in COVID infections is pushing resources to the limit.

Wenatchee School District Superintendent Paul Gordon said district staff are doing everything in their power to keep schools open, including taking over classrooms and administering tests.

"This is no longer about mitigation strategies." explained Gordon, "This is 100% about staffing. Do we have the staff to keep our classrooms, buses, nutritional services and other departments staffed?"

Absences among staff were around 120 per day last week.

Just over 1,200 students reported absent January 10th, or roughly 16% of all the district's students.