Coastal Maine School District cancels classes due to sick staff

After dealing with a global pandemic for over a year, you would think that the idea of ​​closing an entire school district wouldn't faze us.

However, it still comes as a shock when we hear about such things. That's the situation families in a Mid-Coast community woke up to Monday morning.

The entire RSU 13 School District, which serves six schools including Oceanside High School, was closed Monday.

According to an article on the WMTW website, the closure was due to a significant number of employees becoming ill. The article explained that in addition to sick employees, the district was also facing a staffing shortage in the transportation department. The lack of bus drivers made it almost impossible for schools to operate.

A post from the district manager seemed to indicate that cold and flu had taken its toll on district employees.

The post said, among other things:

Thank you for your patience and understanding with the unexpected closure of our schools this morning. Cold and flu season has had an impact on staffing levels and this, coupled with the lack of available staff in our transportation department, has made operations difficult.

At this point, it looks like classes will resume on Tuesday. However, the superintendent said he would notify families if there was a change.

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RSU 13 serves students in the communities of Rockland, South Thomaston, Thomaston, Owl's Head and Cushing.

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