Greater Clark County Schools has created an up-to-date reporting form, showing how many students and staff have been quarantined and/or texted positive for Covid-19. Please click the link below to learn more.
UPDATED: August 7, 2021
Greater Clark Parents/Guardians,
In our Return to School plan, we followed all guidance from the CDC, Indiana State Department of Education, and Clark County Health Department by recommending or strongly recommending face coverings, but not making them mandatory. Our approach has been to follow recommendations while monitoring data.
Amid the rising number of Covid-19 cases, we are increasing some measures and updating our Return to School plan. Within the first eight days of in-person instruction, we have mitigated contact tracing for over 70 positive student cases. We currently have had over 1,100 students completing a fourteen-day quarantine. In August 2020, we only mitigated 30 positive cases the entire month. We have reached more than twice that amount in just eight school days.
Taking a deeper look at the data, we have evidence that a few of those positive cases were school community spread, not just general community spread. In the fight against Covid-19, we will not eliminate the spread, but we do believe there are measures we can take to reduce the spread. With this data at hand, we have made the decision to use the following scale during our school operations in regard to face coverings.
Clark County Color Rating: GCCS Protocol Implications for Staff and Students
BLUE: Staff and students who are not fully vaccinated are recommended to wear a mask/face covering; however, it will be optional during the school day.
Masks/face coverings are required on school buses for all staff and students due to federal regulations for public transportation.
YELLOW: Staff and students who are not fully vaccinated are strongly recommended to wear a mask/face covering; however, it will be optional during the school day.
Masks/face coverings are required on school buses for all staff and students due to federal regulations for public transportation.
ORANGE: Face coverings are required for all staff and students on school buses and indoors, unless a medical situation warrants otherwise.
RED: Face coverings are required for all staff and students on school buses and indoors, unless a medical situation warrants otherwise.
With this chart as our guide, we will begin requiring face coverings for staff and students on Monday, August 9, 2021, as Clark County is currently in Orange status with rising numbers.
In addition to face coverings, schools will be working this week to adjust procedures and routines in the following areas:
- Classroom furniture will be adjusted to rows, spaced apart as reasonably possible, and facing in the same direction as much as possible.
- Seats will continue to be assigned in the classroom, cafeteria, and other areas used by large numbers of students. These assigned seats greatly improve contact tracing accuracy.
- Hand washing protocols and schedules will be increased throughout the day, especially before and after sharing materials, eating, and recess/PE.
- Custodians will increase the use of sanitizing sprayers during and after school.
We believe these steps will not only help reduce the spread, but it will also help reduce the number of students needing to quarantine. Current state guidelines for contact tracing states that if all students are masked and receiving education during the school day three feet or more of distance can be used instead of six feet to begin contact tracing if a positive case is identified.
As we stated when we released our Return to School plan, we will continue to monitor the data and adjust our plan accordingly as we go this school year. We are striving to keep in-person school open to all of our students. That means we will have to make modifications along the way.
Sincerely,
Mark Laughner
Superintendent
