Decision based on rate of spread, increase in staff quarantines
By Heather Ruenz
Staff Writer
The Sharon Community School Board recently decided to close for two weeks, based on recent framework provided by Walworth County officials – and in an effort to avoid what Sara Andrus, Sharon district administrator, described as a “potential brewing storm.”
The school has had one person test positive for COVID who was within the school building during their contagious time frame that resulted in one cohort of children and staff having to quarantine, according to Andrus.
She said the Sharon Board of Education voted unanimously at its October meeting to follow the recommendation to go virtual when the data from the county metric indicated a critical level of community spread.
“When we received our data on Friday (Oct. 23), the health department official informed us that our rate of spread was at the critical level of 72 per 10,000, which is well over the 50 per 10,000 threshold within the school COVID framework,” Andrus said.
Andrus said the board made the decision to follow the framework created by the Walworth County Health Department, trusting the expert knowledge of public health officials.
“It would be extremely difficult to defend running when their metric indicates otherwise,” she said.
In addition to the rating, Andrus said the school had a recent increase in the number of staff who needed to quarantine, indicated a desire to be tested, or had pending results.
“The majority of our staff who have had close contacts with COVID occurred in their personal lives, none the less it is challenge to cover absent staff without completely undoing the cohort groups we have worked hard to maintain,” Andrus said.
“Both of these factors – the metric and our growing quarantines – combined indicated a potential brewing storm we want to avoid in order to protect our future operations,” she added.
Andrus said the move was precautionary for the sake of the greater good of the Sharon community. Furthermore, the school’s model this year allows for transition between virtual and in-person methods with no loss in instruction.
She said school officials feel extremely lucky to have had only one case, a trend they hope continues.
“We hear regularly of other schools struggling to reopen and we are confident that our plan is one of the best in area,” Andrus said.
Despite the challenges of a new way of doing things this fall, she explained, staff have been appreciative of the safety measures in place and while school officials were initially worried about how children would tolerate wearing a mask all day, it has not been an issue.
“Everyone has had to adjust to new ways of learning and teaching but our students are happy to be with us when they can. We are trying to do extra incentives focused on reading to help close gaps and also boost morale,” Andrus said.
She said parents who have reached out to her or the principal directly have been surprised at the options and flexibility available to them.
“We have gotten a lot of thank-yous and that feels good. Right now, I think these times require everyone to treat each other with grace because you just don’t know what others have on their plate,” she said.
Andrus said when the school receives its next report, on Nov. 6, they’re optimistic the numbers will be trending down. If not, they’ll call an emergency board meeting to determine the next step.
Sharon Community isn’t the only school to close this week. Last Sunday, the Reek School Board decided to close for two weeks as well and hopes to resume face-to-face learning on Nov. 9.
