Roberts
Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp. officials are continuing to discuss the district’s mask mandate, but no changes have been made, nor has an end date been set.
Superintendent Jim Roberts said he doesn’t feel he can present a new masking policy until guidance from the Indiana State Department of Health changes.
“From my standpoint, I’m not able to recommend anything to you with masks until we know that doesn’t affect the close contact/quarantine situation,” Roberts said.
Following fall break, the school corporation updated its quarantine protocols to allow close contacts in masked classroom and bus settings to remain at school as long as they are asymptomatic. The change was due to guidance provided by the Department of Health and the governor.
The state’s control measures for COVID-19, as of September, stated that this allowance applies only in classroom settings (not extracurriculars or athletics) of schools that “consistently enforce” mask mandates.
BCSC’s reopening plan previously stated that contact tracing entails a 10-day quarantine, except for those who are fully vaccinated and have no symptoms.
Roberts shared during his COVID-19 update Monday that there were 514 positive test cases during the first quarter of the school year and 382 positive test cases during the second quarter thus far, for a total of 896. He noted that there was a particularly large spike in cases from Nov. 27 to Dec. 3.
However, despite that, the second quarter has generally seen lower weekly numbers of students being out of school due to testing positive, developing symptoms, or being identified as a close contact. In the latter case, the new policy has played a role in that decrease.
Roberts said it’s hard to make a different recommendation at present, stating that even if local case numbers go down, the school corporation would still have to look at state protocols. If the state continues to call for masks in order for schools to take advantage of the more lenient quarantine guidance, then switching to mask-optional would be “problematic” in terms of student attendance.
“Our goal is to try to stay in person, in school,” the superintendent said. “We know that that’s best for our kids and it’s best for our parents. It is a struggle when they have to be at home.”
However, school board member Todd Grimes said that while it might be “premature” given the current situation, he would like there to be more conversation on the mask policy.
“I would like to see us discuss the possibility of setting some parameters of when we might consider lifting the mask mandate,” said Grimes, who is a teacher in another school corporation. “I know, personally, after 30 years in education, I can say the last year and a half, two years — it’s been tough. And talking to teachers in BCSC, my colleagues, teaching friends from across the state, it’s been tough, first and foremost on the kids.”
He added that there are a number of factors in this, such as stress, tension and anxiety being at “all-time highs.” Grimes said that while he doesn’t believe this is all due to masks, the school corporation should do whatever it can to ease those emotions and provide stability.
However, board president Jill Shedd noted that students not being in person can also lead to stress and anxiety, especially as parents have to adjust their work schedules to be there for their children.
“That balance, I think, is important for us to monitor,” she said.
Roberts agreed that absences among both staff and students can cause stress.
“Cases are also increasing with our adults,” he said. “… We are seeing the proportion change from almost all students early in the quarter, or school year. And now, it’s not a balance. It’s still more students than staff. But we’re having more staff test positive. And so, as we have more adults out, then there’s a stress on the system in terms of substitute teachers and trying to cover those classes. So absences continue to drive a lot of challenges for us.”
As of noon on Dec. 10, 870 cases had been reported since August. Out of that number, 128 were staff, which was up 15 from the week prior. Before that, staff cases jumped from 89 on Nov. 19 to 113 on Dec. 3.
During the 2020-21 school year, positive cases and their resulting close contacts caused issues for BCSC in terms of transportation and staffing. These problems were cited by officials when the school corporation moved back to eLearning in November of 2020.
