Cherokee County Schools is heading into its third week of the school year with students masked and one of its buildings temporarily closed due to a COVID-19 cluster.
On Sept. 1, in collaboration with the Cherokee County Health Department, the district decided to close Hiwassee Dam High School until Sept. 13 as the number of COVID-19 cases in the school deemed it an infection cluster. The district will also mandate face coverings in its schools at least until the board’s Oct. 14 meeting. Pre-kindergarten students are not included in the mandate.
Numbers from Sept. 1, when the decision was made, included 490 students in quarantine district-wide, 54 who were positive for the virus. Superintendent Jeana Conley said the district made the decision to mandate masks to keep students in school and attempt to prevent further quarantines and closures.
“That’s a significant number of students who are missing school just for the quarantine,” she said.
Conley added that Health Director David Badger asked her to consider temporarily closing Hiwassee Dam High, and she had polled school board members before making the decision. Six of the seven members supported a mask mandate in an attempt to slow the spread of COVID-19 and reduce the number of quarantined students; board member James “Jaybird” Ellis could not be reached.
Conley said she had the authority as superintendent to mandate masks own her own, but would not make the decision without the board’s backing.
“Several of them called me and expressed that they were concerned that the number of healthy kids not getting to attend school because of quarantine rules was disturbing,” she said. “I had already made a commitment that we would not make that decision without consulting all of them.”
The board held off voting on masks prior to school starting, with some members saying they received messages from constituents threatening to pul their children out of the district if masks were required again. A vote during a special called meeting the week before school started failed 5-2, with board Chair Arnold Matthews and Vice Chair Jeff Martin supporting.
Conley said even though she felt the mask mandate was necessary, she was concerned about the possibility of parents pulling their children out of school.
“I’m always said when we can’t come to an understanding, and we always want parents to think we’re doing what’s in the best interest of their children, and I’m always sad when we aren’t doing what they think,” he said. “It’s just sometimes not a solution that everybody can deal with, that will make everyone content.”
However, not everyone was in support. Parent Andrew Zenobie expressed concerns about the mandate and the district’s quarantine process at a special called board of education meeting Thursday night.
“Your face shield is more than just a physical shield,” Zenobie said. “It’s a representation. You are hiding half of your expression, these things that kids need to learn.”
He said he didn’t understand why his daughter had been made to quarantine even if the person who exposed her was wearing a mask, but she was not.
“I’m not saying don’t take it seriously, and we should protect our most vulnerable population, but there has to be a trade-off. You know, the path to hell is paved with good intentions,” Zenobie said. “I just wanted to bring that to the board’s attention.”
Conley explained the purpose of the mandate to Zenobie.
“Our end game is to keep schools open every day for every kid,” he said. “We don’t want to close. We’ve already seen some districts closing.”
The Learning Center charter school in Murphy reported that as of Friday, 23 students were in quarantine due to a close contact, while three tested positive for the coronavirus. Only two staff members were in quarantine, while four tested positive.