12/13/2020 Update from Superintendent Gartley

Parents,

Unfortunately I have to inform everyone that we had two more incidents this week of COVID-19 in our schools.  At JHB school in Sidney, we had to quarantine a group of students and a couple of staff members as close contacts to a confirmed positive person who was in that school earlier in the week.  Fortunately we are able to keep the school open, but this did impact several families.

At MMS we had a similar event where we have been informed that there was a confirmed positive person in MMS last Monday.  Contract tracing revealed a small group of students impacted, but unfortunately we identified 10 staff members who are considered close contacts.  We already had two other staff members who were quarantining as close contacts this week.  With this number of staff being asked to quarantine combined with the number of subs available and everything else going on the week before Christmas, I had to shift MMS to fully remote for the entire week.  

In early December our High School had to be fully remote for a week.  What I saw for remote learning during that time was definitely much more rigorous when compared to what we were able to offer last spring.  The MHS staff did a great job.  I am confident that the staff at MMS and the few teachers impacted at JHB will equally be up to the task of offering a strong remote learning experience for our students.

As we go into our last week before vacation, I want to thank everyone for helping us make it this far.  Together what we have been able to accomplish has been amazing.  I am so proud that we have been able to keep some sort of normalcy for our students and staff in these strange times. Our educational plan for January remains the same as it has been all fall, we will do everything we can to safely keep our schools open for our students and staff.  

Please stay safe over vacation, practice good COVID habits, and take care of yourself.

Carl Gartley

Superintendent of Schools

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