July 31, 2020
By: Dwayne Page
The re-opening date for DeKalb County Schools has been postponed until Monday, August 17 after an employee at one of the schools tested positive for COVID-19. The planned re-opening had been set for Monday, August 3.
DIRECTOR OF SCHOOLS PATRICK CRIPPS from dwayne page on Vimeo.
Not only will that employee with the coronavirus be quarantined but so will other faculty members and administrators of that school who may have been exposed to the virus.
Director of Schools Patrick Cripps made the announcement to WJLE Friday afternoon. He did not identify the employee nor the school where this person works.
Director Cripps said he consulted members of the school board and the Tennessee School Boards Association before making today’s decision.
“We were notified that we have had a positive result in one of our employees at a building. That employee recently reported feeling not well, then went home, followed all the protocols, and was tested. That employee received the test results today and it was positive. We immediately told that employee you have to be quarantined according to what the CDC recommends for 10 days plus a 24 hour day without a fever before you can return to work. We then began tracing where this individual had been while working and learned that this employee had been around other staff members because we are in in-service. Those other staff members, which involved a large number of that faculty, have been contacted about this matter so we will be pushing back the re-opening of schools for two weeks so we can get through this quarantine and see how the trajectory of the COVID-19 numbers are at that point,” said Director Cripps.
Because this is a delay in the scheduled re-opening of schools, there will be no remote learning during the two week period from August 3-17. The school board will have to decide later how to make up the lost days.