The 344 students currently enrolled at West Marion Primary School are the first local group to be impacted by the recent onset of the delta variant of the coronavirus pandemic, as school officials made the decision Monday to transition the school to 14 days of virtual learning.
Marion County Superintendent of Education Michael Day reported Tuesday that he and the board were compelled to temporarily cancel on-campus classes after a sudden outbreak of the virus occurred last week. According to school health guidelines, an outbreak is defined as the infection of more than three students in a given environment, such as a school campus, a classroom, etc.
West Marion Primary consists of students in kindergarten through third grade, and it is a stand-alone campus that is situated at a separate physical location than the other West Marion schools. Since the outbreak occurred there, and the students do not interact or attend classes at other campuses during the school day, the board felt it necessary to transition the entire primary student body to be cautious.
"As difficult, frustrating and inconvenient this situation is for everyone, the students, parents and faculty, we must not lose sight on our ultimate goal which is to keep our children safe," Day said.
A formal announcement released Friday afternoon by the Marion County School Board of Trustees said, in part, "We have been closely following the advice of public health authorities and the time has come for us to take this step. Our decisions are made based on the CDC and MSDH Guidance for the Prevention and Control of COVID-19. Due to COVID-19 exposure, simultaneous outbreaks and multiple absentees, we feel it is in the best interest of the students to change to virtual learning."
Day said that, during the virtual learning process, students will use Google Classroom as the learning management system to provide instruction, and teachers are also prepared to provide live instruction via Google Meet.
"I want to emphasize that we will continue to provide learning communicated by the principal and grade-level teachers. Additional support will be provided to students and parents during this time to help with navigating the virtual learning platform," Day said. "As always, our primary focus is the safety and health of our students. Please continue to pray for our staff, students, parents and community during the pandemic. We are committed to providing excellent educational experiences for our students while serving our community."
The district's recent upgrades in technology has proven to be very valuable and could not have come at a better time, Day explained, referring to the ability for virtual learning in every classroom of each school. From the school's control center, teachers are able to see and interact with every student from every class using their supplied devices.
Another major concern that's been addressed is transportation and the potential for exposure between students of different ages and grades, that attend different school campuses, but share a bus ride to and from home every day.
To address this issue, Day said they have been relentless in following the procedures already in place that allow the monitoring of contact tracing. If a student gets ill, or displays symptoms of being infected with COVID-19, there is a mandatory 48-hour backtrack protocol where information is collected and documented on where the student has been, who they have been in contact with, etc.
If all goes as planned with the virtual learning period, students should be able to return to on-campus learning on Sept. 7. However, Day said the district will continue to monitor the conditions and the volume of those testing positive and reevaluate the options a few days prior to the end of the virtual period to make a decision on whether to return to classes or extend the virtual learning method.
