“Post-Quarantine Quarantine”: Steamship teachers try to overcome the latest COVID-19 surge

Steamboat Springs — Over 50 students from Steamboat Springs High School “closely contacted” COVID-19-positive students on February 10, according to an email sent to district staff Wednesday morning. Will be quarantined.

This is the third group quarantined in the Steamboat Springs School District in the last two days. Within 30 days of returning from winter vacation, at least 20 different groups were quarantined.

At Strawberry Park Elementary School, more groups have been quarantined than any other school, extending the transition to online learning at school. Until the end of the week. The school will reopen on Monday with a hybrid model.

“It was definitely a difficult week for our teachers,” said Celine Wicks, principal of Strawberry Park.

Data from emails sent to parents and district officials last month showed that since January 8, there have been 19 positive cases in district schools, leaving about 500 students and nearly 40 staff in the district. It was quarantined.During this time, the district Twice delayed plans to phase students back to face-to-face learning This is due to the large number of new COVID-19 cases locally.

Schools are one of the most visible places where the effects of the coronavirus have been exerted locally. This is primarily due to the transparency of the district and the sharing of quarantine emails sent to parents and staff with the media. Reports of outbreaks in a particular restaurant, office, or other environment are rarely published.

so Wednesday Health Committee MeetingNicole Hearty, an epidemiologist in Routt County, said the local incidence of the virus needed to be much lower to prevent the quarantine found in schools.

According to Wicks, the school is a safe place for students because of social distance, wearing masks, and other protocols. What they need is for the community to step up, she said.

“We rely on the community to follow our commitments, and if those commitments aren’t followed, what happens is exactly what happened at Strawberry Park,” Wicks said. “We were quarantined after quarantine, and we can’t keep the door open.”

The spread in schools is kept to a minimum. This is primarily due to the precautionary measures taken and the rapid quarantine of district and local health authorities when students and staff are identified as having a close relationship.

The impact of just one case at school can be significant. In just seven positive cases, nearly 100 students and 10 staff were quarantined at Strawberry Park. According to Wicks, all positive cases at school were due to external connections, such as visits by extended family and friends.

These seemingly innocuous gatherings can quickly snowball and affect many students throughout the district, Wicks said suddenly not easy to move to online learning. ..

“It’s difficult for teachers to pivot that way,” Wicks said. “They are doing an absolutely wonderful job.”

Although not perfect, the hybrid model that the school is currently following can provide some degree of stability and quarantine will affect fewer students for cohorting.

Jessica Regon, a teacher at Steamboat Springs Middle School and chairman of the Steamboat Springs Teachers Association, said she was relieved when she was in the classroom with her students.

“When I’m in public or around other people, I’m more worried than here,” Ligon said.

She said having to go completely away could be even worse for the student, about the student’s mental health if he lost the interaction with his current peers in the hybrid model. I’m worried.

“Some people at Strawberry Park have been crushed by their distance this week,” said Ligon. “We really want that we don’t all have to.”

Carolyn Mall, a school social worker and school-based therapist in the school district, said the lack of personal connections with other students and teachers has a major impact on student mental health and education. Said. However, the transition to full-time face-to-face learning can also be risky.

“If our staff haven’t been vaccinated yet, we could go back to distance learning (learning) and there is no face-to-face school for children,” Mohr said.

Regon said it didn’t make sense to proceed with the district’s face-to-face learning implementation plan at this time, but he is grateful to the district leaders for continuing the discussion.

“I think the conversation needs to keep going,” Reagon said.

Many teachers in the district also have children in school, which can also affect staffing. At the beginning of the school year, the school district created a program to provide childcare to school district staff.

The district’s grant creator, Emily Bayer, said the program was funded by grants from the Yampa Valley Community Fund and the Yampa Valley Electrical Association. The district has just received an additional $ 25,000 from Governor Jared Polis to continue funding the program. This needs to be able to continue for the rest of the school year, Bayer said.

The program is aimed at all elementary school students in the district, and about 50 children participate in two different programs: Strawberry Park and Soda Creek Elementary School. Beyer estimates that about 30 different staff members in the district are using this program.

“For teachers, one less thing to worry about is like mental health,” says Beyer.

Beyer said the response from the district’s anonymous survey of teachers showed a lot of support for the program, saying that teachers could teach with peace of mind.

School social worker Mohr said last spring that balancing her job responsibilities with children’s online education was “the biggest challenge ever.” She has three children in the program.

“If this wasn’t available to me, I wouldn’t have been able to give time and work to my parents and family in the Steamboat Springs School District,” Mohr said.

Vaccines seem to be the key to returning students to school full-time, and Police recently revised the state’s vaccine strategy again. Teachers will be able to start vaccination on Monday, but it will take a few more weeks for all teachers who wish to be vaccinated with the first dose to achieve full vaccination protection.

Wicks said he hopes the vaccine is the answer. Until then, Wicks added that the community needs to play a role in reducing COVID-19 cases in the region by following the county’s containment efforts.

“We absolutely want to be open. This is what teachers do, this is what we all do, we dedicate our lives to education, and we do these. I want my kids to come back, “Wicks said. “But we need to work with everyone so that they can be safely regained. That’s the key.”

To contact Dylan Anderson, call 970-871-4247 or send an email to [email protected].