Hamilton County students in grades 9 through 12 will move to a hybrid schedule when they return from Thanksgiving break in response to the local COVID-19 surge, according to an announcement Tuesday from the school district.
Students in 8th grade and below will remain on campus five days a week from Monday, Nov. 30, through Dec. 4. Meanwhile, students in 9th grade and up will transition to a “phase 2” learning schedule on Nov. 30 until at least Dec. 17, schools officials said in a news release.
The district says it will re-evaluate the situation for K-8 after the break “to ensure we are in step with what local health data is telling us and keep parents informed.”
High schoolers currently represent 41% of the district’s student cases, according to the release, and research indicates that people over age 10 transmit COVID-19 as readily as adults.
School officials said the decision came after a rise in the county’s active coronavirus cases moved schools into the “transition area” between phase 3 (when all schools are open except when individual buildings closed for short-term cleaning and contact tracing) and phase 2 (a form of “hybrid learning” that reduces the number of days students spend on campus).
During phase 2, each student who opted to learn in-person receives face-to-face instruction two days a week and works remotely the remaining three weekdays.
As of Tuesday, the county averaged 1,737 active COVID-19 cases in the past five days, and transition from phase 3 to 2 is between 1,470 and 1,840 active cases.
Officials said that high schoolers are of particular concern due to the volume of cases and because the complexity of high school schedules makes contact tracing a challenge. The district is also now having to conduct its own internal contact tracing.
“The shift in schedule through the break will help the school district better monitor and mitigate cases in high schools and allow our youngest learners to remain on campus with the support they need. It will also help us effectively utilize support staff to target resources for grades K-8,” the news release states. “The rise in Hamilton County cases is a reminder of the importance of following the healthy behaviors outlined in our HCS SAFE Pledge. For the district to keep students on campus, it is essential that everyone follow guidelines to wear masks, socially distance when possible and practice good hygiene over the Thanksgiving break.”
The schedule change marks the first time the district has reverted back to a more conservative schedule since resuming five-day-a-week instruction on Aug. 31.
(READ MORE: These are the Hamilton County schools affected most, least by COVID-19 closures)
Also on Tuesday, the Hamilton County Health Department announced a change in the quarantine process for local students.
If a child is identified as a close contact to a positive case – meaning they were within 6 feet of an infected person for 15 minutes or more – parents will be notified by letter that their child needs to quarantine. The letter will include an end date for when they can return to normal activities, such as school and extracurricular activities, as long as the child doesn’t develop symptoms during the quarantine.
“Because school-age contacts and transmission are increasing in Hamilton County, it is very important that parents abide by the quarantine orders issued by the Health Department,” Health Department Administrator Becky Barnes said in the news release, adding that quarantined students cannot participate in extracurricular activities even if they’re wearing a face covering.
Hamilton County children ages 0-10 years and 11-20 years accounted for 18.6% of all new coronavirus cases in Hamilton County last week – a 2% increase from the prior week – according to a news release from the health department issued Tuesday. The 0-20 age groups make up 21.6% of all positive or probable COVID-19 cases in the county since the pandemic began, according to the release.
Previously, when children needed to quarantine, health department staff informed parents over the phone and then mailed a release of quarantine letter when that time was complete. Now, parents will only receive one letter with all pertinent information at the beginning of the quarantine period.
The announcements come as the president of the state’s largest teacher’s union wrote a letter to Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee this week, urging him to provide more support to educators, including implementing a mask mandate for all schools and publishing firm guidance on infection thresholds for school closures.
In her letter, Beth Brown from the Tennessee Education Association wrote that a review of COVID-19 data for school employees and students revealed the “active case rates of school staff are consistently higher – sometimes double – the rates of the communities those schools serve.
“The data indicate in-person instruction increases infection risk and that Tennessee educators will become ill at a far higher rate than the state’s general population,” Brown wrote. “The importance of in-person instruction to the academic and emotional well-being of students is undisputed; however, the demonstrably higher infection rate of Tennessee school staff cannot be ignored. There are actions your administration can and must take to reduce infections until a vaccine can be widely distributed.”
She was also critical of the state’s Department of Education COVID-19 dashboard, saying it unreported cases and is riddled with other errors.
Contact Elizabeth Fite at efite@timesfreepress.com or follow her on Twitter @ecfite.