Although a staff member/coach reported a positive test for COVID-19 and forced the members of the freshman, junior varsity, and varsity volleyball teams into quarantine, administrators with Ohio County Schools moved forward with a four-day in-school schedule beginning this morning.
Superintendent Dr. Kim Miller said the staff member at Triadelphia Middle School immediately went into isolation as did the student/athletes. According to Assistant Superintendent Rick Jones, some of the student/athletes will be released from isolation at 5 p.m. this Friday.
“Since day one, we planned to transition to four days per week,” Miller explained. “At this time, we have not had a student report a positive test so we wanted to get the students back into our schools as often as possible because we know how important that is to the education process.
“Now we did have a staff member report a positive test, and we have isolated that case,” she said. “But our plan called for us to operate under two-day hybrid plan for the first two weeks of school so the students could learn how to use the devices, and now they know the protocol and practices when they are in the buildings. We have seen everyone being very safe so that is why we moved forward with the next step. All we have been telling everyone is that if they are not feeling well and have some of the symptoms, stay home.”
Some Confident, Some Concerned
While a little more than half of the student population attended classes today at Wheeling Park High School, other schools in the district reported a high percentage of students arriving to their school buildings this morning.
Miller understands why some parents are concerned, though, and that is why she wants everyone to know that the precautions in place during the first two weeks remain in place now.
“We know that there are times when it is difficult to social distance, and that is why in Ohio County schools, we are fully masked,” Miller explained. “Everyone really is being very careful, and I just hope that it continues so we can offer as much in-person learning as possible.
“We have had parents reach out with full support, and we have had parents reach out to tell us they think it is too soon to go to the building four days per week,” she reported. “That is why we are fortunate in Ohio County we have options. Our teachers are working diligently to create at-home learning so they will be able to move fluidly back in the classroom. We had a little more than 800 kids show up at Wheeling Park and that is about half of the student population, but in other schools a much higher percentage showed up.”
The parents and their children do have the virtual learning option to consider as well.
“I believe there are some parents who are waiting to see how it goes, and we are monitoring that every single day,” Miller said. “But I don’t see why we should shut all of our schools if there’s one case at one, and none anywhere else.
Back to Normal?
While the school system’s plan included four days of in-class instruction for Week Three, at this time the superintendent and her staff have not discussed five classroom days per week.
“We are not looking to go to a five-day schedule yet because our teachers are creating virtual lessons and they are working with their online students,” Miller said. “Our virtual platform was greatly enhanced over the summer months thanks to a lot of hard work by our teachers, and people are happier with how we are delivering those lessons.
“Right now, I have no idea when a five-day schedule might be considered,” she said. “We’re all hopeful that it will be possible in the future, but right now we’ll stick with four days of in-person instruction with Wednesday being a virtual day for all of our students and their parents.”
