Murphy – A picture of how Cherokee County Schools will begin the year coexisting with COVID-19 and the Delta variant became more clear Thursday night.
Cherokee County Schools Superintendent Jeana Conley shared an overview of the district’s back-to-school protocols with school board members. No action was taken, although the board voted against making masks mandatory for all students at a special called meeting July 30.
Students will be in school five days a week, with high school and middle school students changing classes as normal. Social distancing measures will be followed, with students at least 3 feet apart and cafeterias at 50 percent or less capacity.
“Several principals, however, have indicated that they would like the students to come to their rooms with their food to eat because of the sense of community and social emotional opportunity that has revealed itself when the group is breaking bread together,” Conley said. “It was pretty neat to hear the teachers talk about what a special time that was.”
Pre-kindergarten students will change classes. Quarantine guidelines will allow quarantined students to return to school with a negative test after seven days with a voluntary test on day five.
Without the test, a quarantine period will last 10 days. Students wearing masks will not be subject to quarantine as long as the identified student was also masked.
“If that were to occur and both students were masked up, no quarantine would be necessary,” Coney said. “Otherwise, quarantine will be seven days. Previously, our health directer had said it was 14, so our school nurses have gone to bat for our kiddos because 14 days is a lot of days to be quarantined, especially if you’re healthy and were simply exposed.”
She said absences for quarantine would be excused. Teachers would post assignments and lectures on Canvas for quarantined students.
Remote learning will be conducted at a much smaller scale and will be overseen by The Oaks Academy at the secondary level. At the elementary level, it will be through a dedicated instructor to not burden Cherokee County faculty further. At both levels, it would be conducted by a third-party provider.
“That is an alternative form of learning, so those students would be choosing an alternative form of learning and, therefore, would be enrolled in the alternative school and not in their regular home school,” Conley said.
At the time of the meeting, there were a dozen Cherokee County students in quarantine, two who were positive for the virus.
Although he stood by his previous views against masking for all students, vice chair Jeff Martin, a doctor, expressed concerns about how contagious the Delta variant is and the possible quarantine issues it could produce for the district.
“I’m afraid based on what we’re seeing that quarantine is coming to a lot of people,” Martin said.
Conley reiterated that lessons would be posted online, as required by law.
“It will not be the main avenue of instructional delivery, but it will important to keep that so that students who are quarantined can access canvas and be able to utilize it,” she said.
Board member Keesha Curtis also spoke to the contagiousness of the Delta variant and reports she heard from local health-care workers. However, she stood by her support of masks being optional.
“They say its’s devastating in what this round of the virus is doing and what they’re seeing in their patients,” Curtis said. “I do feel like we should take this into consideration, especially for health-care workers who are dealing with this.”
He said she had spoken with Health Director David Badger, who suggested starting with students wearing masks to see what effect they would have with the Delta variant.
During public comments, the district also received further support for keeping masks optional.
Murphy High School student Emma Henry said last year’s mask requirement made the year more difficult. She claimed the masks caused headaches and made social interaction more difficult.
“I’m not going to be afraid of something that is not going to really hurt me,” Henry said. “I’m a kid so it’s probably not going to really hurt me, and even if I do get sick I’m going to trust in God for my health and my wellness.”
Students in Cherokee County Schools are scheduled to return to the classroom Monday.