The Salem Community High School Board agreed with the current number of active COVID-19 cases the school would stay on the current schedule of attending classes in person only two days a week.
Superintendent Brad Detering said the recommendation came from the district’s transition team after looking at the current COVID-19 situation.
“When we took a look at all of the metrics including increasing cases in the county and taking a look at some of the effectiveness we feel we have in place with the live streaming of classes. We just felt like keeping kids 6 feet a part is going to help in our mitigation techniques here. It’s not perfect, but it’s pretty good and we felt it was what was going to keep us in school the longest.”
Detering says there has been an increase in the number of students with failing grades, but in at least one case a student who was headed to dropping out has been able to catch up and is now on track to graduate. He reports staying on the two day in-person schedule is not for any set period of time and could change when COVID-19 cases drop.
Principal John Boles noted counselors were successful in bringing some students off full-remote who were failing two or more classes. However, the number of students on full remote is expected to stay around 140 students for the second quarter.
The board agreed with a recommendation not to have final exams for first semester. Detering says students who are passing all their classes will get out of school for the semester on Friday, December 18th. Those with F’s will have to come to school the following Monday and Tuesday to try and catch up on as much work as possible to get up to a passing grade.
Detering reported the district currently has one student and one staff member testing positive for COVID and six more staff and 12 students on quarantine. He says some of the teachers on quarantine are able to conduct their classes from home with an aid sitting in the classroom.
