Going remote

Students were expecting to be away from school for a dozen days.

Seventh through 12th graders will tack another week onto that number.

Jay School Corporation superintendent Jeremy Gulley announced Wednesday afternoon that Jay County Junior-Senior High School will implement a week of remote learning from Jan. 4 through 8.

Elementary school students will return to their classrooms following winter break on Jan. 4 as scheduled. Junior-senior high students are expected to return to in-person classes Jan. 11.

The decision came just a few hours after Indiana State Department of Health’s update showed Jay County as “red” (severe risk) for the spread of coronavirus for the fourth consecutive week.

The temporary closure will follow the same pattern as the school corporation implemented following the Thanksgiving break, when the junior-senior high school held classes remotely from Nov. 30 through Dec. 4.

“We learned from Thanksgiving,” said Gulley. “We experienced the remote learning. The nurses advised us that helped.”

The time off was designed to allow students and staff time to identify any cases of COVID-19 that might have arisen from holiday gatherings.

“And they did do a good job of letting our nurses know,” Gulley said.

He added that data has shown elementary schools don’t produce nearly as many cases, which is why those students will remain in their classrooms.

On the final day of school before Thanksgiving break, 203 students and 16 staff members in Jay School Corporation were excluded because of either positive COVID-19 tests or close contacts. Those numbers dipped to 119 and seven, respectively, a week later.

Currently, 105 students and nine staff members are excluded.

“Those are numbers that tell us we can keep going,” said Gulley.

The announcement came about 3:45 p.m. Wednesday — Jay Schools were closed for the day because of snow, with e-learning implemented — in order to give families time to prepare, Gulley said. During the week of remote learning, the junior-senior high building will be open to students who do not have a reliable internet connection.

“I thought it was just sensible to get the information out now,” he added. “All kids will take their Chromebooks home Tuesday.”

Students will have the winter break, plus a couple days, to complete e-learning assignments to make up for missing the first day of school this year. It was called off because of fog.

The announcement is the latest coronavirus-related shift to virtual learning — Jay Schools shut down in-person classes from the end of the day March 13 through the remainder of the 2019-20 school year — coincided with Jay County once again being labeled “red” in the state’s county metrics. The county had 582 cases of coronavirus per 100,000 residents during the week ending Sunday and a 17.3% positivity rate. The thresholds for the “red” rating are 200 cases per 100,000 and a 15% positivity rate.

Jay County was one of 26 in the state that remained rated at the highest level of risk for the spread of COVID-19. The other 66 counties were all at “orange,” which still indicates high risk. The only county adjacent to Jay that fell in the “red” range was Blackford.

Local case numbers have fallen a bit in December with 289 in Jay County over the first 15 days for an average of 19.3 per day. That’s down from the 22.8 average the county posted in November.

With nine new cases as part of Wednesday’s report, Jay County is up to 1,393 over the course of the pandemic. Of those, 1,000 have come since Oct. 29.

Coronavirus is mainly spread through respiratory droplets or small particles from an infected person coughing, sneezing, talking or breathing. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that it may be possible those particles and droplets remain suspended in the air for an unknown period of time and travel beyond 6 feet, especially indoors.

CDC guidelines encourage wearing a mask and avoiding close contact when around others and frequent hand washing and surface cleaning as ways to prevent the spread of COVID-19.