September 11, 2021
By: Dwayne Page
The number of positive cases of COVID in the DeKalb County School District and those quarantined have dropped considerably this week (9-7 to 9-10) from where they were the previous week (8-30 to 9-3).
The district reported 34 positive cases on Tuesday, September 7 compared to 113 cases on Monday, August 30. By Friday, September 10 the number had ticked up to 39 but still way down from the 92 positive cases reported on Friday, September 3.
The number of those quarantined on Tuesday, September 7 district-wide was 173, down from 252 on Monday, August 30. By Friday, September 10 the number of quarantined had dropped to 168, down from 271 on Friday, September 3.
According to Attendance Supervisor Joey Reeder, the DeKalb School District reported 34 positive cases on Tuesday, September 7 with DCHS having the most at 23 followed by DeKalb Middle School 6, Northside Elementary 3, Smithville Elementary School 1 and DeKalb West School with 1 case. By Friday, September 10 the number of positive cases district wide had gone up to 39 with DCHS having 17 followed by DeKalb Middle School 13, Northside Elementary 5, Smithville Elementary 4, and DeKalb West School with 0.
The number of those quarantined district-wide was at 173 on Tuesday, September 7. DCHS had the most quarantined at 42 followed by DeKalb Middle School and Smithville Elementary each with 38, Northside Elementary 31, and DeKalb West School 24. By Friday, September 10, the number of quarantined district-wide had dropped to 168 with DCHS again having the most at 38 followed by Northside Elementary 36, Smithville Elementary 35, DeKalb Middle School 32 and DeKalb West School 27.
The district reported 15 absences among the staff on Friday, September 10 due to positive cases or quarantine. That’s down from 27 on Friday, September 3. DCHS had the most at 5 followed by the cafeteria department 3, Northside Elementary, DeKalb West, and Smithville Elementary each with 2, DeKalb Middle School 1, and the transportation department 0.
According to Director of Schools Patrick Cripps, the schools are basically relying on parents to report cases of COVID.
“We are not checking temperatures at the door and we don’t get reports from the medical profession saying someone has COVID. We rely on parents to call and tell us. Once we have a positive case we send letters home and a remind app to notify parents that their child is in a classroom where there has been a positive COVID student with possible exposures. We tell the parents that they have the option to quarantine their child and we advise them to please look for signs and symptoms. If the child shows signs, we ask the parents to keep the child home for a few days. Because of the number of students, we are unable to contact trace,” said Director Cripps.
Although remote learning is not an option, students at home can keep up with their homework from packets sent home to them or via Google Classroom.