BLANCHESTER — Due to absenteeism of staff and students, along with a lack of substitute teachers, the Blanchester schools will be closing starting Monday.

Superintendent Dean Lynch decided to close the schools from Monday, Nov. 2 through Wednesday, Nov. 4, and they will reopen on Thursday, Nov. 5.

“What this means is ‘in-person’ learning students will switch to ‘remote’ learning during the closing,” said Lynch. “Teachers are reviewing with students their expectations and schedule for teaching remotely.”

Lynch noted that they are closing the schools due to lack of personnel — not because of a large number of COVID-19 cases.

“Simply put, we just don’t have enough employees to keep school operating,” said Lynch.

The cumulative positive COVID-19 cases, according to Lynch, were three students and three teachers. They’ve quarantined 95 students and 16 school employees, though he indicated he found out Friday that two more students tested positive.

“Therefore, I expect our number to increase by the end of the day (Friday),” he said.

Lynch said if anyone has questions, they should email or call their building’s principal.