Due to an increase in COVID-19 cases and quarantine numbers, the Lafayette County School District is reverting back to the way they started the 2020-21 school year.

Starting on Tuesday, all seventh through 12th-grade students will resume the district’s hybrid model of alternating school days. There will be a Gold Team and a Red Team, similar to how it was when the district implemented the hybrid model to start the school year in August.

The district ended the hybrid schedule on Sept. 4, bringing all students who were doing in-person instruction back to school every day. The school district then required virtual students who were struggling to return to the classroom at the start of the second nine-week term. Students must have a medical reason to switch from face-to-face instruction to the virtual learning-only method.

“Our numbers are skyrocketing,” Lafayette County school superintendent Dr. Adam Pugh told the EAGLE on Monday.

The school district reported 17 new cases the week of Nov. 2 through 8. The majority of them are at Lafayette High School with eight students and four members of the staff and faculty testing positive. Lafayette Middle School Reported two cases among students and two cases among staff and faculty and Lafayette Upper Elementary School reported one case among its staff and faculty.

All elementary students will continue their normal schedules, as Pugh said those grade levels are not experiencing enough issues with COVID-19 to warrant implementing the hybrid format with them.

Students whose last names start with A through L will make up the Red Team and report to school on Mondays and Tuesdays. Students whose last names start with M through Z will be on the Gold Team and go to school on Thursdays and Fridays. Wednesday will be a virtual learning day for both teams.

The Red Team will report on Nov. 10 to start the hybrid format.

Lafayette will remain on the hybrid schedule for the next two weeks, up until Thanksgiving break. Pugh said the district will then re-evaluate their numbers to see what course of action should be taken in December until Christmas break.

There will be lunch distribution points at Abbeville Baptist Church, the Taylor Grocery parking lot and at Anchor Baptist Church.