All year long we have closely examined lots of data. The reason we do this is to keep our students and staff safe during this pandemic. We look at information at a county level and more locally what is happening in our three major zip codes. Finally, we keep a very close eye on what is happening in our schools.
This week all data we examined is trending in the right direction. New cases over the past two weeks in our zip codes remain low. Most importantly the number of students and staff quarantined has also remained low. To give everyone some perspective, when we moved to our hybrid model in November there were 94 individuals in our schools quarantined and six positive cases. During that week we had 17 staff members quarantined.
Today we have 21 individuals quarantined, only 1 positive case and only 1 staff member quarantined. Being in the schools everyday I can say with great confidence that this positive trend is because of the great work our kids and staff are doing, particularly with wearing masks at all times.
We have shared and reviewed our most current data with the Portage County Health Department. Under their guidance, we will be returning to school school five days a week starting next Monday, February 1st.
I have spoken with students and staff in recent weeks and we are ready and excited to see our kids full-time again. It is our expectation that this could be the transition that marks the start of a path back to normalcy.
In order for our transition back to five day in-person learning to be successful we have to get back to the four things that have kept us safe. First, if you are feeling ill, stay home. The rest are the simple tasks that everyone can do. Mask up, back up and wash up. Doing these four things will give us our best chance to remain in person to finish this school year.
Finally, I want to thank everyone for your patience and support of your kids and our staff. They are all working very hard to make the best of a difficult situation. They have demonstrated the highest level of flexibility throughout this pandemic, and I am very proud of their efforts. As a community, you have all pulled together to help us get through this. The good news is that we are nearing a better time. Spring is around the corner and the entire JAG community has much to celebrate when we can all gather together again.
I am looking forward to seeing all of our face to face learners back in school, together, next Monday!
Have a great week, and Go G-Men!
Ted