Since reopening schools in late August, leaders of the Warren County R-III and Wright City R-II school districts are keeping a close eye on whether new health measures are preventing the spread of COVID-19 in their schools.

R-III Superintendent Dr. Gregg Klinginsmith said his district has added a COVID dashboard to its website, so community members can monitor the same student data the district sees on a daily basis.

As of this week, only two R-III students and one staff member have tested positive for the virus since the beginning of classes Aug. 25, Klinginsmith said.

When a student tests positive for COVID, district officials consult seating charts put in place this year for classes and buses, in order to find every other student who has been in close contact with the case. The district then works with the Warren County Health Department to contact the families of those students and put the kids on quarantine for two weeks, Klinginsmith said.

“If one kid tests positive, all the other kids around them within 6 feet, for 15 continuous minutes, have to quarantine. The other kids in the classroom are OK,” Klinginsmith said.

About 80 total students have been put on quarantine due to close contact with a COVID patient, according to the R-III COVID dashboard.

If a student shows signs of illness while at school, Klinginsmith said school nurses will proactively isolate that student and recommend COVID testing if appropriate. That student would be asked to stay home until they get the result of their test back.

Having a significant number of students opt for online-only learning this year has helped reduce close contacts, along with other measures to limit student movement and congregation, Klinginsmith added.

Staff members, too, have limited contact with one another. They could also be put on quarantine for two weeks, meaning the district has a higher than usual demand for substitute teachers, Klinginsmith said.

All of these steps are meant to contain and isolate any cases of COVID without impacting the larger student population. If the number of cases cross a certain threshold, individual classes, buildings or the district could be shut down for two weeks, Klinginsmith said.

“As long as we keep our precautions — kids are wearing masks and we’re not seeing any major spread — I’m feeling confident that we’ll be able to get through the school year,” the superintendent said.

Wright City cases low

Wright City R-II Superintendent Dr. Chris Berger said his district received confirmation last week of their first student case of COVID-19 since starting school Aug. 24.

“After the contact tracing, we had four students ... placed into quarantine,” Berger said.

Wright City schools are following many of the same procedures as R-III to limit student contacts. Berger said elementary students have been organized into small groups that don’t have a lot of cross contact, to make contact tracing easier and limit virus spread.

“Our hope is that every effort we make is minimizing that exposure and limiting the number of other students taken out of the educational setting,” Berger said. He added that community members were supportive when the district issued notice of its first case of the school year.

“I think people respect that we’re trying to get as much information out as we can,” he commented.

Overall, Berger said he’s confident that health measures are limiting the effects of COVID. He was reserved about whether that would be enough to keep schools open if a major community outbreak happens later in the year.

The silver lining is if a student is quarantined, or school closes, that no longer means an end to education.

“The neat thing is the opportunities that are afforded to us now with what we went through last spring,” Berger said. Schools’ online classes have been revised and improved, so that any student who has to stay home can immediately switch to virtual learning for the duration of their quarantine, he explained.