Going virtual

Jay County Junior-Senior High School students were already set to be away from the classroom beginning today for Thanksgiving break.

They’ll be waiting a little bit longer to go back.

Jay School Corporation superintendent Jeremy Gulley announced Tuesday afternoon that the junior-senior high school will shift to virtual learning through at least Dec. 4 in response to an increase in the spread of COVID-19 in the county.

The county’s elementary schools will continue with in-person classes.

The decision came after the corporation leadership’s weekly meeting with Jay County Health Department during which they learned the county is expected to be at a red (severe) status when Indiana State Department of Health provides its update today. (While the update comes every Wednesday, county statuses are based on Sunday numbers.)

Jay Schools’ plan, which was approved first this summer and reaffirmed with a few adjustments earlier this month, calls for the junior-senior high school to shift to virtual when Jay County is at a red status.

“We determined together jointly that it was time to move our 7-12 to remote,” said Gulley while waiting for the final bell to ring at the school Tuesday. “I think we needed to stay consistent with our framework. To me, it was the status of being red in our county. That should mean something, and it did mean something. We stayed consistent with our planning process and our approved plan we had already put out.”

A letter from junior-senior high school principal Chad Dodd explaining the decision and addressing the virtual learning process was sent to parents Tuesday. It is also available online at bit.ly/39c4VZT.

At a red status, the plan calls for the corporation to “consider” a shift to virtual learning for the elementary schools.

“We did consider at K-6,” Gulley said. “Quarantines, the staffing impacts and the COVID numbers are significantly different at elementaries than they are at junior-senior highs. That’s consistent across the state.”

He added that the corporation took Indiana State Department of Health and American Pediatrics Association recommendations into consideration when making the decision about the elementary schools.

Still, students at all grade levels were instructed to take their Chromebooks with them as they headed home on Thanksgiving break Tuesday.

“That way they’ve got them,” said Gulley. “Every kid’s got their Chromebook at home if they need it.”

The school corporation’s timeline for such decisions is to make announcements on a Wednesday — for implementation Friday — following the Tuesday meetings with health department officials. Gulley moved up his announcement Tuesday because of the impending break from school.

“It made no sense to me to delay a decision — the health department had high confidence (Jay County) would be a red status as of noon (today) — knowing that the kids and staff here at the junior-senior high are going to go on break,” he said.

The junior-senior high school’s shift to virtual learning runs through the first week of December, with students currently slated to return to the classroom Dec. 7. That timeline, though, will be evaluated and potentially changed based on the prevalence of COVID-19 in the county.

Jay School Corporation currently has 203 students excluded either for testing positive for COVID-19 or being a close contact to someone who has tested positive. Sixteen staff members have been excluded as well.

Gulley noted that while the county’s overall status was the driving force behind the closure, staffing has also been an issue. With the junior-senior high school moved to virtual, all of the school corporation’s substitutes will be able to be used to help at the elementary schools.

“The staffing piece is definitely a challenge across the state,” he said. “And we’re seeing it here.”

Jay County had 14 new cases of COVID-19 reported Monday, bringing its total to 964 with 544 of those coming this month. There was also one new death for a total of 13.

As of last week’s state department of health update, only one county — Putnam — fell below the orange and red levels. Twenty-one were red, and the other 70 were orange.

Counties reach the red level when they have more than 200 weekly cases per 100,000 residents and their 7-day positivity rate is 15% or greater.

Jay School Corporation closed all of its buildings at the end of the day March 13, shifting to virtual learning. They remained closed for the rest of the 2019-20 school year.

The start of the current year was then delayed until Sept. 9 — it was originally scheduled to begin Aug. 12 — in order to allow staff more time to prepare.