As community COVID-19 cases are on the rise, so are the number of quarantined, and positive cases within area school districts.
As of Friday, November 13, the Mansfield School District had three positive cases and 70 quarantined for being probable close contacts. According to District Superintendent Joe Staton, “it is the highest we have seen, however, it is close to what other districts are experiencing.” He added, at this point it is too early to tell if the district will pivot from in-classroom to online learning.
In Hackett, the district is reporting four students and three staff in quarantine at the elementary, and 22 students and one staff member in quarantine at the high school. Two students at the high school are confirmed positive cases.
The Waldron School District is seeing comparable numbers. “Waldron Public Schools continues to work toward keeping our schools and community safe during this pandemic,” shared District Superintendent Daniel Fielding. “As of this moment our entire school district has nine positive cases. This number is very low when taking into consideration that the school district has just under 2,000 total students and staff in pre-k-12 grade. When a positive case is identified we very quickly work with the department of health to determine if other individuals require a quarantine period. Individuals who are quarantined are not positive cases, this seems to sometimes confusing for some. In fact the percentage of individuals quarantined who ultimately develop into a positive case is very very low. We will continue to take all precautions, and will continue our diligence with cleaning and disinfecting our facilities throughout this challenging time and beyond.”
All three districts continue to work hard protecting and educating our most precious commodity, our children, our future.
