Clarke Community Schools released a statement Monday morning confirming that an elementary staff member has tested positive for COVID-19 and by Monday night there were three additional cases confirmed. As of Tuesday morning there are four total cases in elementary staff after school resumed in person Aug. 27.
Contact tracing though Clarke County Public Health has been done and those students and staff who had been within 6 feet of those who tested positive for 15 minutes or longer during the first two days of school, Aug. 27 and 28 have been notified.
“Individual students families have been notified. There hasn’t been an entire classroom of students effected up to this point, thankfully,” said Steve Seid Superintendent of Clarke Schools.
The district will accommodate any parents who want to switch their student to online learning in light of this positive COVID-19 case but hadn’t had any request to switch as of Monday morning. For parents to switch to online learning contact the principal of that child’s school.
With registration ongoing and no formal attendance report for the first two days of school the district was unable to say whether or not there was a substantial absenteeism in students thus far.
The area where the staff members worked have been thuroughly cleaned. Clarke staff members have been directed to clean desks, chairs, door knobs and other frequently touched ares with either disinfectant wipes or solution each time a class leaves the room. All roomes are keeping seating arangements physically distanced and students and staff memebrs are wearing masks. Meals are grab and go to prevent large numbers of students sitting in the cafeteria together. At the end of each school day custodial staff go through to deep clean. Restrooms are being cleaned multiple times a day.
“Fictures, faucets, paper towel dispensers, all those things are being cleaned at a much higher rate than they were being before,” said Seid. “We’re being very conciencous.”
PPE materials are being purchased on a weekly basis. This week the district has two pallets of wipes being delivered, 100 gallons of liquid disinfectant to be delivered. A pallet of hand sanitizer has already arrived and hundreds of masks for students have been ordered.
“We are making sure that we have all that safety product readily available for our staff,” said Seid.