School Matters 08/09/2021

I was visiting one of the elementary schools and saw a group of students in the hallway waiting to load the buses. I asked the students how the day went, and they were eager to share information. One of the kindergartners stated that this was the best day of his life, and he could not wait to come back tomorrow. It was reassuring to know that this young boy had such a positive experience, and I was pleased to hear his excitement. I asked him why it was such a great day and thought he was going to say that he had made new friends, loved his teacher, learned something new, etc. Without much thought, he said that this was the best day of his life because they had pizza for lunch, and there was leftover pizza, so he received another piece free. He was also pretty confident they were having pizza tomorrow, and he was hoping for additional pizza. I had hoped for something more significant but still – it was the best day of his life, so school was not a complete failure for this young boy.

The intent of these articles is to keep our community informed about important school events. Please take a moment to review the following and contact us if you have any questions. We will answer those concerns in our next article. Please email Mrs. Karlene Webb (webbk@hcboe.net) with any concerns or questions.

1. After a week of school, we are beginning to see a couple trends. We are not sure if these trends will continue, but we will monitor the numbers daily to do all we can to ensure the safety of staff and students. It is important to note that this is only the first week of school, so these trends may change as the year continues. It is equally important to note these are general observations and not controlled scientific studies. However, the following information may be helpful to better understand the nature of the virus and help to mitigate the impact of the pandemic.

First, we are seeing more students testing positive than adults. Of course, there are nearly 10,000 students compared to 1,400 staff, but the percentage of students to adults is greater than last year. Currently, we have 4 staff members who are active cases. Last year, it was not uncommon to have 5 members test positive in a single day. Currently, we have had 116 total cases since the start of school with 74 active cases. We have quarantined 138 students since the start of school.

Second, we estimate that over 70% of our staff have been vaccinated. It seems that the vaccinated staff, in conjunction with those who already have antibodies from being previously infected, are helping to reduce the number of staff members testing positive this year. Third, we are seeing those who have not been vaccinated are experiencing significant health issues as compared to those who have been vaccinated. We have had multiple unvaccinated staff who had been forced to seek medical attention, and some have been hospitalized. To our knowledge, none of our vaccinated staff have been hospitalized. Some of the vaccinated staff have experienced breakthrough infections, but the symptoms seem to be relatively mild for most vaccinated staff.

Fourth, the virus seems to be more contagious this year than last year. It also appears to cause more serious health conditions in those who become infected. Many of our staff who became infected last year were feeling well enough to teach virtually the next day. This does not seem to be the case for many of our staff members this year because they have experienced some serious health problems when infected.

Fifth, we are seeing higher infection rates among our older students. Over 37% of all active cases involve high school students. We suspect the infection rate may be higher among our teenagers because they are more socially active and have greater opportunities to be in contact with other potentially infected peers. Although it may change as we move through the school year, it appears most of the infections have occurred outside of the school.

2. Our student enrollment has increased a little from last year. It is important to note these numbers will fluctuate greatly for the next several weeks. Often, we see significant enrollment shifts during the first month of school, so we continue to monitor enrollment. On the fifth day of school last year, we had 9,909 students. This year on the fifth day of school, we have 10,056 students. This is an increase of 147 students. Many districts in the region are experiencing significant student enrollment decreases, but we are seeing a slight increase. Both high schools continue to hover around 1,500 students with East having an enrollment of 1,551 and West having an enrollment of 1,482. We have seen a decrease in enrollment at Hillcrest Elementary (35), West Elementary (26), Whitesburg Elementary (10), East Ridge Middle (13), and Meadowview Middle (49). We have seen an increase in enrollment at Alpha Elementary (2), Fairview Elementary (13), Lincoln Elementary (25), Russellville Elementary (78), Union Heights (7), Witt Elementary (62), East High (41), West High (45), and Miller Boyd (22).

3. We have developed a three-phased approach to providing instruction for students who are quarantined. In Phase I, each individual school will develop a plan to provide make-up work as they deem appropriate. Schools may elect to use any type of digital or paper option for making up work. During Phase II, we begin to see a larger number of students quarantined, and schools may no longer have sufficient staff/resources to effectively handle the increased numbers. The district would provide additional instructional support/staff members to assist quarantined students who may be struggling with make-up work. We would have district or staff members in daily contact with students to ensure we respond to academic concerns and questions. In Phase III, we have a significant number of students infected/quarantined and have reached a point where we have closed down a specific classroom, grade level, or school. In this Phase, we will transition to a temporary virtual educational program for the affected staff and students. Students from a closed classroom or school will be issued laptops, and we will provide instruction virtually for the duration of the closure. We anticipate this would be for a specific amount of time (perhaps 2-3 weeks) until we felt it was safe to return to normal classroom instruction. Currently, we are in Phase I, and each school is responsible for their own students. Please contact the school if your child is quarantined and is struggling with any of the required academic coursework.

4. At this point, we are limiting the number of visitors into our schools to help reduce the chances of exposure. We have not instituted a closed campus, but we are asking parents to restrict visits to the school. We have allowed some outside groups to speak to classes and provide essential services. However, we are not allowing parental visits to the classroom and lunchrooms. It is our hope to lift this restriction later in the year, but we hope that parents understand our desire to keep staff/students safe.

5. We have received a number of calls and concerns about students who are quarantined. We fully understand that parents, especially parents who work during the day, are faced with a number of challenges when their children are quarantined. We have scaled backed on the number of students we quarantine because of a potential exposure. We did not see a large number of students test positive after they were quarantined which lead us to believe we were sending too many students home as a child tested positive in a specific classroom. We are closely monitoring these cases again this year to determine if we can modify our quarantine protocols so that children who have had limited exposure are not forced to go home. We are always attempting to find that balance between keeping children in school and making sure we keep staff/students safe. Without question, there are serious consequences if we send students home or if we keep them in school.

6. We have had a number of questions about athletic programming. At this point, we are allowing our athletic competitions to continue as normal with a few exceptions. We are discouraging interstate and overnight competitions, but we have all regular season games scheduled. We are not requiring masks, and we are not restricting the number of spectators.

It is our hope that every day at school could be each child’s best day ever. We realize this is not realistic because there are a number of challenges associated with attending school. However, we do hope that a child can experience a great deal of success in school, and there are best days. Please communicate concerns to Mrs. Webb, and we will respond to those questions in a future article. Thanks for your attention to this article and remember, School Matters!