In response to health dept. policy Neelyville loosens contact tracing policy

The Neelyville R-IV school board accepted a contract trace guideline made available earlier this week by the Butler County Health Department with a slight modification.

Under the guideline, students with potential exposure to COVID-19 could test out of quarantine if they receive a negative test four days after contact trace and are exempt from contact trace if wearing a mask.

The board changed the test requirement to seven days after potential exposure; a test taken on day eight.

DAR/File photo

School district nurses said they were against the idea of students being able to test out of quarantine at all due to concern that the virus could still be incubating until 14 days after exposure.

However, the adjustment to seven days made them feel slightly better.

It was approved 4-1 with two absent. Jill McGruder voted against the motion, while Board President Gene Russom and Paul Petty were absent from the emergency meeting Thursday night.

Board members discussed the guideline for over an 90 minutes before making its decision.

This decision came the day after the district sent home over 80 students.

On Thursday, 87 students were home either after testing positive, identified through contact tracing, or awaiting test results.

According to board documents, 13 staff were out and 11 didn’t have substitute teachers.

School Nurse Kim Hager said the district knows of three positives reported by the health department, three whose parents reported a positive and one teacher who self reported a positive.

Only those identified by the health department have been contact traced, she said.

Administration said they’ve seen an increase in mask wearing over the last two days since more people within the district were told to stay home.

Debra Parish, superintendent, said several teachers voiced in favor of the guideline and several didn’t.

Two also mentioned that the district should shut down for two weeks, which board members agreed is not the move at the moment.

Along with the concern over the situation, the board agreed with a decision to postpone Tigerfest, originally scheduled for Oct. 17, will be postponed until spring.

Board members also agreed to waive the deadline for students to enroll in the currently offered virtual school.

Parish said the program they use for high school is not accepting new students at the moment, but will find another for students to enroll with.

Those parents enrolling will need to meet with administration to discuss it before the student start.