The following is a statement from the Boone County Health Department:
Uncertain times allow us to move forward only when we make best possible use of the available information and guidance of experts. Decisions regarding the future of the coming school year are guided by local, state and nationwide data from experts in their fields. The Boone County Health Department has consulted with local school district leaders throughout the COVID-19 crisis and utilized information from the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Indiana State Department of Health, American Academy of Pediatrics, independent data and scientific specialists, medicals professionals at Witham Health Services and others.
The goal of decisions impacting important county activities like the reopening of our schools is to slow the spread of COVID-19 in our communities while still providing Boone County children with the countless benefits that only in-person schooling can provide.
Current research indicates that children ages 0-10 have minimal rates of COVID-19 spread found to be much higher among youth ages 11-19. Given this information and the steps our schools have taken to prepare, the Boone County Health Department recommends that middle and high school age students begin the school year in an alternating hybrid schedule of in-person and online learning so that student populations are split into cohorts that are not at school on the same day.
In keeping with recent documentation of researchers about young children, elementary students are recommended for daily in-person school attendance making use of spread mitigation strategies well known to everyone including frequent hand-washing, distancing whenever possible, mask wearing in accordance with local school practices, and pre-screening by parents and all staff to ensure that sick individuals are not knowingly in our schools while shedding the disease.The specific details of scheduling will be determined and communicated by each Boone County school and/or district.
Boone County Health Department officials will review data including the number of new COVID-19 cases, the percentage of positive COVID-19 cases, and the trend in incidence rates on an ongoing two-week cycle with notice to county superintendents on Friday before a transition week may be signaled for change in the separate cohort hybrid schedule in Boone County secondary schools. Determinations will be made regarding any changes to school operations based on these and other data that become relevant as the matter evolves.
Further, all county schools observing IHSAA re-entry rules will hold in Phase I until further analysis and communication from BCHD on July 31. Information about upcoming large crowd athletic (and other) events will be provided on July 31 as well.
As always, we respect parents’ decisions regarding what is best for their children. Our schools have offered remote learning opportunities and have indicated that these will continue throughout the COVID-19 crisis. This facilitates the need to stay away from school facilities for families who believe this to be the educational route for their children.