Mike Wolanin | The Republic Students head to class on the first day of school after spring break at Columbus North High School in Columbus, Ind., Monday, March 22, 2021.
Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp. has announced significant updates to its COVID-19 protocols — most notably, masks are now optional in schools, effective Tuesday.
And, BCSC will no longer release weekly reports on its number of COVID cases, in the past reported by cases per building.
Flat Rock-Hawcreek is also implementing changes to its protocols, which include the elimination of contact tracing and quarantines for exposed students. Superintendent Shawn Price said that this is will begin Tuesday, as Friday was an eLearning day for staff development, and Monday is an eLearning snow make-up day.
BCSC announced its mask-optional policy late Thursday afternoon and noted that the change begins on Tuesday, as students will not be in school as Presidents Day is Monday. Masks are still required on school buses due to a federal requirement.
“With the change to a ‘masks optional’ environment, we remind parents to keep their children home if feeling ill,” school officials said. “Additionally, our nurses in each building will continue to assess students that are not feeling well once at school and send them home as necessary.”
The changes were announced after the Indiana Department of Health (IDOH) released revisions to COVID-19 control measures and also communicated that “all decisions regarding COVID-19 mitigation strategies are now local ones.” School officials also cited a decline in positive cases around the district.
A couple of hours prior to BCSC’s update, IDOH announced new, relaxed COVID-19 guidance for K-12 schools due to declining cases across the state, along with other changes to Indiana’s pandemic response. Starting Wednesday, schools will no longer need to quarantine students exposed to COVID-19, regardless of the student’s vaccination status or if the school has a mask mandate.
BCSC and Flat Rock-Hawcreek officials confirmed that their schools will implement this guidance, along with two other updates from state health officials.
One states that schools will no longer be required to conduct contact tracing or report positive cases to IDOH.
The other adds that, “Individuals who test positive for COVID-19 should isolate for five days and may return on Day 6 if they have been fever-free for 24 hours without the use of medication so long as symptoms are improving, according to guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Individuals should wear a mask through Day 10 any time they are around others inside their homes or in public.”
“These changes reflect the rapid decline in COVID-19 cases as we emerge from the omicron surge and the fact that all school-age children have been eligible to be vaccinated since November,” said State Health Commissioner Kris Box in an official statement. “While they do not remove the need for continued vigilance, they will ease the reporting burden on schools and help ensure that children can stay in school.”
IDOH included in its guidance that schools are expected to continue helping local health departments with notification “in the event of an outbreak or cluster.” Schools are also “encouraged” to continue sharing information about positive cases with families so that parents can watch their children for symptoms.
BCSC’s protocols have changed multiple times during the 2021-22 school year, most recently with an announcement in early February that all close contacts identified during the school day would remain in school, regardless of vaccination status, unless they had symptoms or were unmasked.
Flat Rock Hawcreek protocols have differed somewhat from BCSC’s, with the school corporation implementing a mask-optional policy from the beginning of the 2021-22 school year (with certain exceptions, such as on buses).
However, both districts have decided to follow the new guidance most recently provided by the state.
“We will no longer be quarantining students or tracing close contacts,” said Price. “But we will advise positive cases to stay home for the duration of the quarantine time.”
