CLEVELAND — In less than a week, students throughout O​hio will begin returning to school following winter break, but as cases of COVID-19 continue to surge, the question of if students will return in-person or virtually remains.

What You Need To Know

  • Cleveland Metropolitan School District will move to remote learning for the first week back from break

  • Other school districts plan to continue school in-person

  • CMS families may still pick up lunches from nearby schools

In Cuyahoga County, where COVID-19 numbers are reaching all-time highs, the Cleveland Metropolitan School District will have students attend school virtually for the first week back. CMS CEO and Superintendent Eric Gordon said current health data for the county led to this decision.

"Students should follow their normal school day schedule and log on to their classes remotely as directed by their teachers throughout the week," said Gordon.

On Wednesday, the Ohio Hospital Association sent out a letter encouraging schools to put mask mandates into effect if students will be returning to the classroom.

The letter read in part:

"To those who do not currently have a mask requirement, we respectfully ask that you consider one as your students return after holiday break. Health experts around Ohio have recommended Ohio schools have masking policies until more students get vaccinated, and that remains their recommendation as students return to school next week. This is even more urgent now because of the rapid spread of the omicron variant."

Courtesy: Ohio Department of Health

Spectrum News 1 inquired the plans for other school districts in the state.

So far, districts like Cincinnati Public Schools and Akron Public Schools said they are not planning to move to online learning, but that could change as they continue watching the data from the health department on current COVID-19 cases.

Gordon said that information will also help CMSD decide if they'll continue virtually or go back to in-person.

"We will continue to monitor the health data throughout the week to determine our ability to return to in-person learning hopefully for the week of Jan. 10, and I will update our entire school community again early next week," said Gordon.

Gordon said CMSD families will still be able to pick up free lunches next week and any equipment such as laptops that students may need.