Ranger – The Cherokee County Health Department directed Ranger Elementary/Middle School to close early Friday because of COVID-19 exposures.
Two staff members tested positive, including one teacher, while 11 staff members had to be quarantined immediately based on their possible exposure, Superintendent Jeana Conley said Friday. In addition, 10 students had to be quarantined in direct relation to the staff members testing positive.
“The health department requested immediate response to quarantine as opposed to waiting til the end of the day,” Conley said. “The entire office staff quarantined, so there would be no one to run the operations of the school.”
Students were released immediately to maintain their safety, and all instruction was moved to fully remote learning. The district planned to contact parents when the school can resume in-person learning.
Conley said of the two staff members who tested positive one was pretty sick, while the other had symptoms. By Monday, the school had one more staff member who tested positive and two more students. Conley said a couple of staff tests returned negative.
County Health Director David Badger said the schools have been doing a “pretty good job,” and he’s pleased with their plans to prevent the spread of the virus and protect students. The cohort arrangements will limit the potential for spread.
With Ranger, Badger said the exposure to the virus appeared to be coming from outside the school, with two different initial sources of infection.
In total, Ranger has 23 teachers, two administrators and five assistants. It has a total of 272 students, with only 192 going to the campus for face-to-face instruction. As of Monday, 17 staff members and 21 students were quarantined, while three staff members and five students were positive for the virus, including one student in the fully remote plan.
The experience with Ranger has not changed Conley’s thoughts on how the schools reopened.
“We are still committed to giving students the opportunity to attend face to face,” she said over the weekend. “We have experienced too many personal victories with certain kids over the last two weeks to discount it.
“We are not convinced any of the contagion occurred at school – quarantine numbers are high as a result of caution, but quarantine has not equated to a parallel number of positives. We believe we can do this safely, and that our kids need us and each other.”
Conley said lunches will be available for pick up at the school from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday through Friday. Anyone in need of meal delivery should call the school nutrition department at 361-8432 or email jennifer.rayfield@cherokee.k12.nc.us.
Ranger’s pre-kindergarten classes were not affected by the quarantine, and the school was continuing to offer those classes each day this week. Throughout Cherokee County Schools, 32 staff members and 94 students were quarantined for possible exposure, while six staff members and 12 students were positive for the virus as of Monday.
Any students determined to be exposed to the virus will be contacted by both the school and health department. Affected students will receive a letter to bring home, and the school nurse will be directed to call their parents.
The Cherokee County Board of Education chose a hybrid model for students to return to school after Gov. Roy Cooper announced in July that schools may reopen under the state’s Plan B, which reduces capacity in schools, or decide to go fully remote under Plan C. The board authorized Conley to move individual schools or the district into full remote learning, if needed.
Families had the ability to choose whether their children would attend school in person for two days each week under the hybrid plan, or attend school remotely.