East Ridge Elementary Shifts to Online Learning

According to the Hamilton County Department of Education Website’s “COVID-19 Data Dashboard,” East Ridge Elementary School will shift to online learning on Thursday for deep cleaning and to conduct contact tracing.

According to the East Ridge Elementary PTA Facebook page, the school will be closed for two days. The target date for re-opening is Monday, August 24.

The following is a statement on the ERE PTA Facebook Page from Mr. Moreno: “We found out today that someone within our school community has tested positive for Covid-19. As precaution and to allow our county to come in and deep clean those areas, we feel it is best at this time to close our school building and temporarily transition to remote learning. The Hamilton County Health Department is the lead organization responding to this case, and we are working with them to identify who at the school was in close proximity to the person while they were at the school. Individuals who meet this criteria will be notified by the Health Department. We have also already communicated with those involved.”

Kindergarten families that were scheduled to Phase In the next two days, students will come next week on Thursday and Friday. Our School Age Child Care Site will be closed as well.

About Dick Cook

Dick Cook has lived in East Ridge since the Kennedy Administration when his parents bought a house on Marietta Street. Dick graduated from ERHS in 1976 before going on to the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga where he studied Political Science. Dick worked for the Chattanooga Free-Press and the Chattanooga Times Free Press for 22 years. Free-Press Sports Editor Roy Exum plucked him out of production in 1989 and gave him a job as a sports reporter. Dick covered everything from prep sports to the whitewater events on the Ocoee River for the 1996 Olympics. When Chattanooga's two paper's merged, he became the Crime Reporter covering both the Chattanooga Police and Fire Departments. He was among reporters who were honored by the Associated Press for the TFP's coverage of the 2002 fog-shrouded crash on I-75 in Catoosa County, Dick and his wife, Cathy, live on Marlboro Avenue where they are seen frequently chasing around their three grandsons.