(Facebook/Monroe County Community School Corporation)
Monroe County Community School Corporation leaders met this week and decided that plans for COVID-19 response will look different than last year.
Assistant superintendent for human resources and operations Dr. Andrea Mobley said members of the MCCSC COVID Monitoring and Advisory Committee agreed they didn’t want to use definitive numerics to make calls about when to move to hybrid and at-home learning.
“The positivity that was our primary indicator last year, was no longer an effective measure - one of which is the number of people testing, and also the vaccination rates we have.”
Mobley says MCCSC families can expect information Friday night from the district on how COVID response will be handled this year.
Paul Farmer, who’s on the Monitoring Committee, says their approach will rely heavily on contact tracing, so response can be more targeted.
"What you don’t want to do is say there is an outbreak in a particular building. Well you don’t want to shut that entire school down, Now you might need to, if there’s other cases that occur. Or if you have cases in the elementary- why should you be shutting down the high schools?”
Mobley says when more than one case is reported in for a classroom or bus, the district will work with the county health department. They’ll consider information like number of positive cases in a classroom, close contacts outside school, and number of close contacts in school when deciding whether to move to online learning for 10 days.
A Friday email from MCCSC’s superintendent, Jeff Hauswald read:
“From this week’s meeting, the committee now advises that we focus on the number of positive cases within individual classrooms, individual schools, and the district, as the primary data source for determining when a classroom, school or the entire district may need to cancel in-person learning. MCCSC officials will consult with the Monroe County Health Department when more than one positive COVID-19 case exists within a classroom to determine if a classroom or school should temporarily move to online learning for ten days due to each individual situation. Data to be considered in making this decision will include:
• The number of positive COVID-19 cases in a classroom/school building, • The number of close contacts to the positive individual in a classroom, school or bus, • The number of known close contacts outside of school with positive tests, • The number of individuals within households of a student/staff member that have a positive case, and • The number of households of students/staff members with a positive case."
The district plans to open vaccination clinics. Students and teachers aren't required to be vaccinated– though Hauswald's email says all eligible persons are encouraged.
