School district navigating COVID waters again

Published 8:18 am Monday, August 16, 2021

In the weeks leading up to the 2021-22 school year, there was hope that teaching and learning could return to a sense of normalcy, but rising COVID case numbers locally have public school officials on alert again as they begin to find themselves in a situation similar to the start of last year.

The Baldwin County School District (BCSD) had been in school five days when the decision was made to put a mask mandate in place. Superintendent Dr. Noris Price cited the recent increase in new cases in the community and the more contagious Delta variant as reasons for the decision. After not adding double-digit cases in a single day since late February, Baldwin County has already had six such days in August, according to Georgia Department of Public Health (DPH) data. Baldwin has been designated as having “substantial spread” of COVID by DPH, which was another reason the BCSD mask mandate was put back in place. Price gave those at Tuesday’s school board meeting an idea as to how often the need for requiring masks will be examined.

“We’re monitoring the data on a daily basis, so we will re-evaluate — I would assume — on a monthly basis to determine whether we need to continue to require masks,” the superintendent said. 

Masks are back on full-time with exceptions during meals and outdoor activities, similar to last year. One factor that makes the current school year different from last is the number of students that are actually in school. Price said that 97% of the district’s enrollment attends traditionally while the remaining 3% are online. At the start of last year, less than half of students had selected face-to-face instruction as their learning method. Following Christmas break, in-person enrollment jumped to about 63%, so schools are now closer to normal capacity than they were during the 2020-21 term. With more people comes the increased likelihood of contact, so BCSD this week took a look at its quarantine procedures for individuals who are in close contact with a known positive case of COVID. The school district’s mask mandate, which took effect Wednesday, should help keep quarantine numbers low in one regard.

“If you are in close contact to a positive case and you are both wearing a mask, you do not have to quarantine if you have no symptoms,” said Price. “If you have symptoms, of course we follow the guidance of the CDC. I want you to know that flexibility is appreciated. I think it’s also going to help our working parents as well.”

The superintendent added that BCSD will determine its quarantine procedures this week based on the latest guidance from the Georgia Department of Education, the Centers for Disease Control and DPH.

“We’ve been given flexibility when it comes to quarantine guidelines,” Price said. “Ms. [Judi] Battle (BCSD head of human resources) is working with our district and school administrators in identifying the Baldwin County quarantine guidelines to prevent children from being out an extended period of time.”

BCSD has high vaccination rate among employees

Also during Tuesday’s meeting, Battle reported that nearly 80% of respondents to a recent BCSD survey on vaccination said they have been fully vaccinated. The survey was kept anonymous, but allowed district leaders to at least get an idea on how many employees had completed the process or are going through it now. 

“I think it’s been very helpful,” Battle said. “It gives us an idea where we stand in terms of the protocols and well-being of our faculty and staff.”

Battle added that 18% of respondents had started the vaccination process, but had not completed it yet. Not all employees had responded as of Tuesday, so the survey was being kept open in order to get closer to 100%.