As the number of teacher absences mounted for Good Friday, Pierce Middle School Principal Victor Fernandez started working on contingency plans.

At one point during the week, he thought he might have as many as half of his 74 teachers absent. He managed to talk some out of taking the day off and tapped his staff to cover other classes, planning to close the media center to free up the media specialist and her assistant to take over classes.

Other staff members agreed to take on colleagues’ duties as well. Twenty teachers ultimately took the day off.

But when school started at 9 a.m. it became clear that Pierce had a new problem – it had enough teachers for classes but not enough students.
“I was very surprised this morning,” Fernandez said. “It’s quiet. It’s a quiet day.”

About 250 of 1,042 sixth- through eighth-graders had arrived by first period. Three of the buses had been canceled in advance because of a lack of drivers, but the remaining dozen that delivered children had fewer than 10 riders on each of them. There was no traffic outside the school, hallways were eerily silent and one employee described the school as a “ghost town.”

The phones in the office rang regularly with parents calling to report their children absent.

“Our biggest challenge districtwide if to have clerical go through all the phone calls and messages from parents,” Fernandez said.

In the classrooms, teachers and fill-ins did their best to stick to academics, reviewing material and giving students a chance to catch up but not presenting new lessons. Eight children from four classes total – normally with 100 students enrolled – went to the media center to work on math skills on the computers.
Their teachers followed them, with a ratio of about two students per each teacher in the class.

“At least it’s something educational and fun,” said media specialist Karen Triplett, who has worked at Pierce for 11 years and volunteered to give up her regular duties to substitute in a classroom.

“We’re just all pulling together,” Triplett said. “These kids have come, and we’re going to try to make it as enjoyable as possible.”

Regular math, eighth-grade advanced math and high-school-level Algebra 1 merged this morning with 10 students in math teacher Misuzu Platts’ classroom. The room is outfitted with headphones and computers for students to do independent work with computerized feedback, and the students were working quietly at their desks on math assignments at different levels.

“If they decided to come to school, it’s a regular day,” Platts said.

Seventh-grade language arts had dipped from 22 students to four. They pulled their desks together in the middle of the classroom and finished reports analyzing vocabulary, characters and plot from a book they were reading.

About 10 a.m., the bell rang for students to change classes.

“OK units, get ready to move,” Fernandez called into his walkie-talkie. “Don’t expect a lot of crowding in the hallway.”

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