RICHLAND COUNTY, Ill. (WTHI) - It was a pretty quiet place Monday morning at Richland County Elementary. That's because students were working from home. Monday was the first day of remote learning. They'll stay home for the rest of 2020.

Superintendent Chris Simpson says, "What is the magic number? What is that number that determines when is it going to be necessary to maybe move from in-person to remote? And the fact is there wasn't and is not a set number."

You could say that the school district goes with the flow. That flow last week got rough.

In total 155 students were absent. But it was the 22 staff members that forced the district to make the call to move to remote learning.

Simpson explains, "So we had then on any given day five to seven unfilled positions at the elementary school."

Those numbers are still looking good for students at the middle and high school. The high school is still under renovation. Right now classrooms at the high school are being prepared for students. Students will return for two orientation days next week.

Simpson says, "There's a lot to be done in cleaning really in the next week to get prepared for that to happen."

After that, the district will look towards the return to in-person classes in 2021.

Simpson explains, "As the decision was made for the elementary school to move the elementary school to full remote learning because the numbers there dictated that. Come January the numbers could dictate something different."