VENUS, Texas — Another smaller Texas school district is temporarily shutting down due to a surge in COVID-19 cases.
The Venus Independent School District in Johnson County, south of Fort Worth, is cancelling classes next week, officials said Friday.
Venus officials said the district has seen "an unusually low attendance rate due to positive COVID-19 tests," according to a district news release.
Venus, a district of about 2,000 students, had 115 active cases, 96 of those among students, according to its COVID-19 dashboard. Venus High School had the largest outbreak, with 43 student cases and one staffer case.
"In addition, COVID-19 has made it difficult for us to staff our campuses at a level we believe provides our students with the high quality instruction they deserve," the news release said.
Venus plans to have students return to class on Tuesday, Sept. 7. No classes were previously scheduled for Sept. 3 and Sept. 6 due to the Labor Day holiday.
The district said school campuses will be cleaned and sanitized during the break in classes.
Earlier this week, the Kemp Independent School District in Kaufman County shut down from Wednesday through Friday due to a "rapid and significant rise" in COVID-19 cases.
Last week, schools in east Texas, Bloomburg ISD and Waskom ISD closed some of their classrooms temporarily, as did Morgan Mill southwest of Fort Worth. And Iraan-Sheffield ISD southwest of San Angelo remains closed through Monday, where the small community is feeling the impact of COVID too.
Kennard ISD near Nacadoches announced it is closing campuses and athletic events through Sept. 1.
Keene ISD near Cleburne closed its two Pre-K classrooms for three days last week. The rest of its elementary, middle and high school classes remained open.
According to new data released by the state Friday, 15% of all COVID-19 cases in Texas from Aug. 15 to Aug. 22 were from public school students and staff.