Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp. is instituting a new distance for close contact tracing, but only in certain classrooms.
BCSC school board members approved a recommendation Monday from Superintendent Jim Roberts and school officials to change the standards for a close contact, in regular classroom settings only, from 6 feet to 3 feet.
“That’s a very specific situation,” he said. “It’s if students are facing the same direction, they have their face masks, face coverings on, all those kinds of things.”
He added that this new rule would not apply to other school settings such as buses, lunch or recess.
At the start of the school year, BCSC identified close contacts as individuals within 6 feet of a positive case for 15 minutes at a time. Later, at the state’s recommendation, BCSC changed the rule to within 6 feet for 15 minutes cumulatively.
Local health officials have indicated their support for the latest change.
“The CDC, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the state department of health, the Bartholomew County Health Department, Columbus Regional Health are all in support,” he said. “We have made those contacts to ensure that if we go this direction that we have support from those in the medical profession.”
While the change will affect contact tracing, Roberts said that BCSC will continue to keep students physically distanced as much as possible.
From the beginning of the school year, BCSC officials have held that a 3- to 6-foot range is acceptable for social distancing and spacing in certain situations, citing a recommendation from the American Academy of Pediatrics. So while the change in classroom close contacts is new, the idea of a 3-foot acceptable distance in those classrooms is not.
Roberts said social distancing is the most challenging mitigation strategy for the school corporation.
“Our educators are doing a great job of making do with the space they have and keeping students at least three feet away from each other,” he said. “It’s the 6-feet that is a challenge.”
The fourth quarter of the school year is a particularly inopportune time for students to miss in-person instruction, Roberts said.
While BCSC is still concerned about COVID-19 and physical health, “social and emotional wellness” is also a concern, he said.
