James Evans with Rutherford County Schools sent parents an important update regarding school closing on Friday, Sept. 3, 2021.

The message was as follows:

Because of staffing issues — especially those affecting our cafeterias and several bus routes — all Rutherford County Schools will be closed Friday, Sept. 3. This will allow several employees in these areas to return to work after Labor Day.

We want to give you some data to illustrate this point. We currently have 14 bus drivers who are out for a COVID-related reason, and these drivers cover 38 bus routes, which affect 4,850 students. By Tuesday, Sept. 7, 10 of these drivers are scheduled to return.

In our cafeterias, we currently have 55 employees out, affecting multiple schools. But on Tuesday, Sept. 7, 46 of those employees are scheduled to return.

So we are using one of our stockpile days to cover the closure. This four-day window will also help many students and other employees be able to return to school, and we encourage everyone to practice social distancing during this time.

The district’s central office will be open Friday.

We are letting parents know today to give you a couple of days notice for planning purposes. Thanks for all that you do.