South Pike school board members were assured Thursday that school nurses are leading the schools in following Mississippi State Department of Health guidelines for schools on COVID-19.
Lead nurse Felicia Scott said people who may have been in contact with an infected person are expected to stay in isolation for 10 days, a decrease from previous guidance of 14 days.
However, for someone who has tested positive for COVID-19, “there is no test out of quarantine,” Scott said. “The quarantine period is 14 days.”
For someone to be considered in “close contact” with a COVID-19-positive or possibly positive person, they must be within 6 feet of that person for a cumulative total of 15 minutes.
School nurses are not considered to be close contacts for students, teachers or other school staff if they are wearing personal protective equipment.
Staff who are considered essential may report to work if they are asymptomatic, provided they don’t interact with coworkers or students and only go to work and then return home.
All students have their temperature checked when they arrive at school, Scott said. If a student’s temperature registers 99.5 degrees or higher twice, and the student subsequently teests positive for COVID-19, they must quarantine for 10 days and can only return after they are symptom-free for 24 hours.
“We have to stay vigilant,” Scott said.
Board member Dr. Luke Lampton praised the district’s nurses.
“As a physician, I am thoroughly impressed with our nursing staff,” he said.
District principals also gave their monthly reports to the board.
Across the board, principals were worried about student achievement after initial assessments of academic understanding and growth showed majorities of students at most grade levels and in most subjects behind where they should be.
In addition to lower achievement levels already existing over the past several years, principals pointed to the virtual instruction that began when schools were closed in the spring and continued this fall, with some students still taking classes online only.
“Our teachers are concerned,” Eva Gordon Upper Elementary School principal Geneva Holmes said.
South PIke Junior High School principal Warren Eyster said, even for students coming to school there, it would be better to be able to have the students every day, rather than every other day under the hybrid schedule now in place.
“The more we see them, the better,” Eyster said.
Principals also reported problems with attendance and assignments among online students.
Eva Gordon Lower Elementary School principal Kim Daniels said 28% of students racked up two or more absences in October, which she said was due largely to online students not completing and turning in weekly packets of assignments.
If those packets are not turned in, the students are counted absent for the entire week covered by the packet.
At Osyka Elementary School, principal Angela Lowery said students there had the same problem with turning in assignments, but also with parents or others doing the students’ work to turn in.
“We can tell by the handwriting and the time spent on the assignments,” Lowery said. “We can also tell because of how they do on the assignments. We know little Johnny and how he performed in class last year. If little Johnny wasn’t doing well last year and now he’s making 100s on all his assignments, there’s a problem there.”
