Students and staff at Brown County junior high and high schools had about 12 hours to pivot from in-person to all-virtual instruction last week.
They’ll continue to have classes online only until at least Nov. 29 — possibly longer depending on what the data say.
Superintendent Laura Hammack has been speaking with the Brown County Health Department about plans for school. District leaders had been tracking the percentage of students per building who were out each day with symptoms of COVID-19. As long as they were below 11 percent, the schools were on the “green” plan of in-person instruction every day.
However, last week, the health department saw another area of concern, Hammack said: the number of students and staff who were on the quarantine list for each school, either as a result of people testing positive, or people awaiting test results because they were close contacts of others who tested positive.
The junior high and high schools had been getting several positive cases in the preceding few days, leading to as many as 30 or 40 people at a time — staff and students — being quarantined, Hammack said.
That led to the two schools switching directly from green status to red overnight, skipping their “yellow” plan of a hybrid, in-person-and-remote schedule.
According to BCS’ return-to-school plan, which was approved by the local health department, 11 to 15 percent of the student population reporting symptoms as well as “minimal or moderate active exposes cases at school buildings” puts a school in the yellow zone (hybrid plan), and anything above that is in the red zone (virtual-only plan).
On Nov. 11, the day the switch was made from green to red, the junior high had 2.7 percent and the high school had 3.7 percent of its students or staff out with symptoms — well below the 11 percent threshold to go to yellow. But when taking into account the total quarantine list, the numbers were higher: 14.1 percent (37 people) at the junior high and 22.4 percent (117 people) at the high school.
The state is also operating on a new, county color-coded system to help guide local leaders in making decisions.
The Indiana State Department of Health recommends that when communities are in “orange” status — as Brown County was starting on Nov. 11 — “grade schools may remain in person” and there’s a “strong recommendation for hybrid learning for middle and high school students to allow for more social distancing in school.”
Hammack told parents on her Nov. 16 Facebook chat that school leadership was working with the health department to better understand the impacts that the county color-coded levels have on school plans.
For whatever reason, the three elementary schools and Brown County Intermediate School are not seeing the numbers of COVID-19 concerns that the junior high and high schools are, Hammack said. Therefore, they’re still on the green, in-person plan, for now.
“We’re seeing a very low percentage of students presenting with symptoms, and also a very low number of students on quarantine because they are a close contact of a person with the virus,” she said about the PK-6 buildings.
“I think, when we get a couple years down the road, we’ll better understand why transmission seems to be happening more at the secondary (grade) level.”
Internet, food and athletics
This round of all-remote schooling will not be exactly like what junior high and high school students experienced in the spring when the schools were closed for COVID. The workload will be more like a normal school day, and some teachers may require students to be logged on for remote instruction at certain times, Hammack said. Assignments are being posted in Canvas and students should check that platform and their email for instructions from teachers.
The district is giving away a full week’s worth of meals — breakfasts, lunches and dinners — to all students who are learning remotely each Monday. Pickup is between 4:30 and 6 p.m. at Helmsburg, Sprunica and Van Buren elementary schools and at BCHS.
The junior high and high school also are offering internet access inside both schools for non-quarantined students from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekdays for those who don’t have it at home.
Since the junior high and high schools are on the “red” level of the district’s COVID-19 response plan, athletics and other extracurricular activities have been canceled. If the schools are able to move out of that status after Thanksgiving break, activities may be able to resume, Hammack said. Athletic directors are working on rescheduling missed games.
After Thanksgiving
A couple parents on Hammack’s Facebook Live chat last week asked if coming back four days after Thanksgiving would be wise, and whether staff or students are being required to quarantine if they travel for the holiday.
Hammack said those are things they’ll take into consideration when they reevaluate the data after Thanksgiving. There are no requirements right now for staff or students to quarantine before returning to school in person if they’ve been traveling.
She said she was working with the health department on building a reentry plan.
In order to have students and staff healthy enough to reopen school in person, they need to take care of themselves. Hammack asked parents of junior high and high schools to “be thoughtful about what the next two weeks look like. We’re all going to be really needing to think about what we’re doing over the holidays.”
