By John Estridge
Union County College Corner Joint School District (UCCCJSD) Superintendent Aron Borowiak said there have been positive COVID-19 tests among athletes, and some students will have to start the school year under quarantine and/or isolation.
School board member Jessica Jones said it is her understanding the positive test results have come from athletes who are not in fall sports, but they are working in off-season workouts. She asked if that is something that should be curtailed at this time.
Those conversations were part of the monthly UCCCJSD Board of Trustees meeting Monday evening, August 10. UCCCJSD first day of school is Thursday, August 13.
During the superintendent’s comments near the end of the meeting, he said there has been an uptick in the county’s COVID-19 positive test results. Indiana State Department of Health reported on Monday Union County has 41 positive test results. He said the number is actually 43. There is a lag from when the ISDH acquires local numbers.
Borowiak said he has been working with the Union County Health Department and others with contact tracings and has found there are gray areas. The Centers for Disease Control’s definition for a close contact is someone who is within six feet of someone else who is positive for 15 minutes or more. However, officials are calling other things near contacts. He did not elaborate on the definition of a near contact, but said some of those near contacts may have to be isolated.
“We’re working through this,” he said. “It’s not cut and dried.”
However, Borowiak said the UCHD said schools are safer than many other places the students find themselves in where social distancing is not enforced.
Those comments led to questions and conversation among the board members. Jones asked Borowiak what is the tipping point for closing schools or the whole school system down and having everyone go to distance learning.
Borowiak said the rule of thumb with the flu is 20 percent absentee rate.
Board president Mary Eversole asked if the UCHD would be in contact with contiguous counties in Ohio as students to the school system come from the Buckeye state and at least two different Ohio counties. Also, there are some students in different programs who come from contiguous counties in Indiana. Borowiak said the health departments communicate among themselves concerning other populations when doing the contact tracings and other subjects concerning the virus.
Board member Mike Sims asked about the monetary value placed on students with remote learning compared to the students in the brick and mortar schools.
Borowiak said in normal years, a person learning from a remote location would get 85 percent funding from the state while the students inside the school would get 100 percent. But this year that has been waived, and all students will receive the 100 percent funding. He said Gov. Eric Holcomb clarified that situation again earlier on Monday.
Eversole said with the board members, it has always been a given that education is very important, but this year, especially, it is education and safety, which are important.