5 Tuscaloosa County Schools, All City Schools to Close Friday

Five Tuscaloosa County schools and all schools within the Tuscaloosa City Schools system will close Friday amid an ongoing shortage of critical staff.

TCS Superintendent Mike Daria announced Wednesday that all 21 schools in their system would close to students on Friday and all classes will be conducted virtually on Monday.

The hope, Daria said, is that hitting pause on in-person instruction for a few days will allow sick staff, substitute teachers and bus drivers time to rest, recover and get back to face-to-face instruction on Tuesday.

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Administrators with the Tuscaloosa County School System have temporarily shut down several schools this week, but have not yet made the decision to do so in all facilities.

Five TCSS schools will be closed Friday, including Brookwood Middle School, Davis-Emerson Middle School, Lloyd Wood Education Center, Northside High School and Northside Middle School.

Friday marks the third consecutive day that multiple TCSS facilities were forced to close because of staff shortages.

"The temporary closure at these schools is due to a high number of faculty absences and lack of substitutes. While other schools are experiencing the same concerns, they are still able to operate at current staffing levels," TCSS Superintendent Keri Johnson wrote Thursday. "These schools will reopen to students as soon as possible, when staffing returns to a level at which the schools can be operated."

"No other TCSS schools are impacted by this closure, and students should report to school as normal at all other schools," she wrote.

Stay connected to the Tuscaloosa Thread for more updates on the omicron variant and its ongoing effects on various institutions in the area.