SHELBY — Shelby City Schools will use its first calamity day of the school year on Sept. 3 due to an elevated number of student COVID-19 cases.
“With the increase in numbers, we feel it is imperative to keep students and staff at home tomorrow,” Supt. Tim Tarvin wrote in a Sept. 2 letter.
School will resume with in-person learning on Sept. 7. At this time, all extracurricular activities will continue as scheduled.
Tarvin shared Thursday that each of the district’s buildings was seeing a high percentage of students absent.
Shelby High School had 25 percent of its student population absent on Thursday. Shelby Middle School has 15 percent of its student body absent; Dowds and Auburn Elementaries had 10 percent.
“Many students are displaying symptoms, with the most common being headache, sore throat, and stomachache,” Tarvin said. “The majority of our positive cases originated from community contact, but now we are seeing an increase in positive cases as a result of classroom contact.
He hopes keeping kids apart from their peers for an extra day will help slow the spread of the virus. All school buildings will be deep cleaned and sanitized over the weekend.
The district has had a total of 50 students and 2 staff members test positive since the beginning of the school year. There are currently 38 active student cases and no active staff cases.
By comparison, a total of 72 students and 36 staff members tested positive over the course of the 2020-2021 school year.
Tarvin noted that the district has between a 70 and 75 percent vaccination rate among staff.
“I don’t know if that’s why our staff numbers are lower than our students are not,” he said.
When asked if administrators were reconsidering the mask-optional policy, Tarvin said his team plans to reassess the situation upon returning to school next week.
Under Ohio health guidelines, students who are vaccinated or wear a mask consistently and correctly in the classroom do not have to quarantine after a positive exposure to COVID-19.
“At this point, it is a parental decision that could impact loss of educational time,” Tarvin wrote in his district letter. “If you desire for your child to wear a mask, please discuss this with your child, emphasizing your expectations and reinforcing proper mask wearing.”
Tarvin asked the parents and families to be aware of community contact over the holiday weekend, continue to monitor their children’s health and keep them home if they are displaying symptoms.
“We appreciate (the community’s) support for the district and our students,” he added. “We want them to be safe and healthy.”
