Thank you for taking the time to view this video as I would like to explain to you our reasoning for still providing an in-person learning platform for our students while Todd County is “red” on the state’s indicator. First and foremost is the safety of our students and staff.
As such we are closely monitoring the COVID data at both the state and local levels. Like you, we are concerned with the rising number of cases in our state. This summer we worked with Mrs. Harris and the Todd County Health Department to develop a set of data matrices to determine when it would be prudent to provide an In-person Learning Platform and when we should only provide a Virtual Learning Platform.
Those decision making data points are based off of three sets of data: Number of unconnected active cases in Todd County, number of school cases and their locations, and the number of active cases in Todd County.
For the safety of our students and staff I can assure you that we continue to monitor the number of positive cases in our school district and in Todd County on a daily basis. At this time, the number of cases among students and staff at school has not mirrored the drastic spikes across our region and state. This is due to the diligence of our school staff in implementing thorough cleaning and safety measures and to you, our community. We are incredibly grateful to each of you for your team cooperation in this effort.
Currently the data is as follows for Todd County:
Monday, November 2nd – 0 cases
Sunday, November 1st – 2 cases
Saturday, October 31st – 2 cases
Friday, October 30th – 2 cases
Thursday, October 29th – 4 cases
Wednesday, October 28th – 3 cases
Tuesday, October 27th – 2 cases
With regards to the Todd County School District data, over the past week there was only one student who tested positive, one staff member who tested positive, and we have ten students who were placed in quarantine because of contract tracing (this is as of November 3rd). As of Wednesday, November 4th, we will only have one person in quarantine due to contract tracing.
The safety of our students and staff are our highest priority. Moving forward, we will continue to maintain close communication with the Todd County Health Department. Based on the current data, we will continue with our schedule as planned.
As the safety of our students and staff are our highest priority, if our district sees a large increase in the number of positive cases, we are prepared to transition to an all virtual learning platform. However, the data to this date does not indicate this need currently.
We appreciate your continued support and all that you do for our children and our school district.
Superintendent Mark Thomas