Blue Ridge Schools are transitioning to remote learning for the few days of scheduled school leading up to Thanksgiving and will remain in remote learning until next Monday, November 29.

Blue Ridge Schools Superintendent Dr. Hilary Stanifer told Regional Radio News on the WHOW Morning Show Monday, the recently introduced shield testing is catching COVID positives in the student body.

Last year, nurses' offices in schools were strained to try to keep up with all the close contact data and track who was in and out of quarantine. While that has been lessened to this point in the school year, Dr. Stanifer says the shield program is again requiring more of their time.

According to Dr. Stanifer, because of the guidelines of COVID testing and the fact shield labs will be closed for Thanksgiving this week, they are going to have to keep kids in remote learning through Monday of next week.

Because of the possibility of health department directives, the district will wait to make a decision on extracurricular activities until later today after they consult with the health department. The Blue Ridge girl's basketball season has tipped off and the boy's basketball team is in Cerro Gordo for Thanksgiving tournament action this week.