This story has been updated since running in the August 25 print edition of The Nugget, with more answers from LCSS Superintendent Rob Brown.
After watching the number of cases of COVID-19 in the school system rise with each week’s report since school began nearly three weeks ago, there’s another number that has been rising just as rapidly: the number of comments and concerns posted alongside those rising numbers on social media by parents of students attending Lumpkin County Schools.
Parents like Alyson Richardson said they want to see more accountability.
“What surprises me here is, the cases in the district have tripled every week, and there’s no real update on when they’ll make a change,” Richardson told The Nugget. “...I’d like them to address it...Address the consistent rising numbers.”
Lumpkin County Schools reported 61 “Current Positive Cases” among students and nine among faculty and staff during their weekly COVID-19 Friday Data Update. As of Monday at press time, the number had grown to 70 students and 12 faculty and staff members.
Outside the school room, COVID cases are skyrocketing locally as last week saw the biggest seven day increase since the beginning of the pandemic with 318 new cases reported by the Georgia Department of Public Health. The current COVID count stands at 3,342 positive cases since early 2020. In Lumpkin County over the last week 13 local residents were also hospitalized, which brings that total to 3238. Thankfully, the local death toll did not increase with it over the past week. A total of 71 local lives have been lost due COVID complications since the beginning of the pandemic, according to GDPH data.
NEW RULES
When compared to the protocols of the 2020-2021 school year, the school system has actually loosened its mandates, specifically regarding quarantining policies.
“There are currently two types of quarantines,” said Superintendent Dr. Rob Brown. “Modified Quarantine, for students who have been potentially exposed at school, the student may choose to continue attending school if they remain masked while in attendance and remain asymptomatic. And Quarantine, for students who have been potentially exposed away from school, the student must quarantine at home for the quarantine period.”
This meant that when one of Richardson’s two children tested positive for COVID-19, the other child was still eligible to go to school, so long as they wore a mask.
“My concern comes from those who are going home to it everyday, and coming back to school,” Richardson said. “My two children both tested positive within a week of each other, and the latter one was allowed to come to school unless symptoms showed, They would only have to wear a mask for 10 days.”
Instead, she decided to do what she felt was the right thing.
“I chose to keep both home,” she said. “My second child ended up testing positive with no symptoms within 5 days of the first. And while I agree yes, more than likely everyone will recover [from] mild cases, I don’t want to contribute the spread to anyone else’s household. I don’t know anyone else’s situation or what would happen if anyone else got sick.”
Thanks to a change in the Georgia Department of Public Health’s guidance for schools relayed to schools on August 18, that is no longer the case, as a student whose sibling tests positive for COVID-19 now qualifies as someone exposed away from school, which puts forced to quarantine, according to Brown.
“For students who have been potentially exposed away from school, the student must quarantine at home for the quarantine period,” he told The Nugget. “This is in accordance with the GADPH guidance.”
Denise Carson, who has one child at LCHS, said she’d like to see a mask mandate, where those who choose not to wear a mask would do virtual school.
“Why should the kids that will wear a mask keep being forced to stay at home?” Carson asks. “Let them stay at home and do virtual learning if they aren't comfortable having their children mask up.”
Richardson explained that this is how things worked at the North Carolina school her children attended last year.
“In [North Carolina], we wanted our kids to be able to go to school and to do so there, they had to wear a mask. So that’s what they did...Virtual was an option and in-school was an option,” she said. “Everyone was virtual on Fridays. Monday through Thursday were in-school days. The school would deep clean on Friday’s when the school was empty.”
Brown said the system will continue to avoid providing a virtual school option if possible.
“We believe students need to be in school to get the best education possible and we have no plans to implement a full-time virtual option this year,” he said. “Our staff did an amazing job creating and providing a full-time virtual option last year and we are very proud of the work our teachers did. Providing this option proved to be an enormous challenge which required endless hours of extra work and preparation on behalf of our teachers. Virtual school is not our preferred mode of instructional delivery and will be used in Lumpkin County Schools only in emergency situations.”
MOVE TO MASKS?
While Richardson says a mask mandate wouldn’t necessarily make her feel more comfortable, she said it seemed to work in the district her children attended last year where there was a mandate.
Kate McElliott says she “would be thrilled with a mask mandate,” for the schools and feels if the adults seemed more receptive, the kids would likely follow.
“If the leaders in the schools wore masks, this would help set a precedent,” McElliott said. “It would also go a long way in showing those that want to be safe that they are not alone. Leadership starts from the top. The school says it ‘encourages’ masking yet almost none of the teachers or principals are setting this example.”
McElliott, a mother of two LCHS students and two elementary aged students that she says “will be homeschooled at least until vaccinations are available for their age,” also worries not enough students are being notified of potential exposure.
“I am praying they will consider notifying all students in the class for theater, music, special needs, or other interactive classes,” she said. “We have serious disease in our family and high risks. We really need to know about our children’s exposures so we can test them. I know I am not alone in this.”
When asked by The Nugget how many exposure letters have been sent home in the three weeks since school started, Brown said “We have not been keeping cumulative quarantine data as it is not required by DPH so that isn't an easy number to get.”
As for making sure parents receive the exposure letters, Brown said “The exposure letters are sent electronically directly to the parent to avoid the potential issue of a student not getting it to them.”
McElliott says she’d like to see more COVID-19 updates from the school.
“Dawson County Schools has recently put a new plan into place, contact tracing again and daily COVID updates,” she said. “Perhaps Lumpkin could start with something as moderate as this, so my kids and everyone’s kids can stay there in person.”
Richardson says she’d like to just hear a plan for how the school is adapting.
“We haven’t heard what happens if the numbers get too high,” she said. “It would be nice to know if they have a plan.”
At the moment, the plan for Lumpkin County Schools is to keep offering an in-person learning opportunity as long as it can, according to Brown. When asked at what point the case count could force further changes to the system’s protocols, Brown said “We will remain flexible and adjust as needed.”
“Although we have seen a much larger number of cases among our student population this year, most parents have reported their children having very mild symptoms and recovering quickly,” he said. “We have been fortunate to avoid a large number of cases among our employees, but we know the virus can still cause tremendous health problems for those who get it. We believe students need to be in school to get the best education possible and as long as we have ample staff to serve our students, we will remain committed to providing that opportunity.”