Bladen County Schools on two-hour delay Monday in return to in-person instruction

Jan. 23—ELIZABETHTOWN — Students in the Bladen County Schools district are on a two-hour delay Monday in returning to in-person instruction.

The district, which used remote learning on Friday, cited the lingering icy conditions of some rural roads.

In its release, the district did not list any schools using remote learning this week due to the coronavirus. Elizabethtown Middle was remote on Thursday, and Elizabethtown Primary was remote all of last week. The previous week, West Bladen and East Bladen high schools, and Bladen Lakes Primary School used the model.

In last Tuesday's report on outbreaks and clusters from the state Department of Health and Human Services, the following Bladen County Schools were included:

—Bladenboro Primary, three staff, nine children.

—West Bladen High, no staff, 14 children.

—East Bladen High, one staff, 13 children.

—Elizabethtown Primary, one staff, five children.

The state defines clusters as five or more at child care facilities or schools, and outbreaks as two or more cases at congregate living settings. Numbers are cumulative from varying points and do not indicate active.

This story authored by Alan Wooten of the Bladen Journal. Contact him at 910-247-9132 or awooten@bladenjournal.com.