COVID-19 cases are dropping in county schools
By Jacob Clary - jclary@aimmediamidwest.com
Superintendent Tim Davis said at this week’s Hillsboro Board of Education that masks and other COVID-19 measurements are working because the number of staff and students out of school due to the virus or being quarantined has dropped significantly. That appears to be the case across Highland County.
According to the Ohio Department of Health School COVID-19 Reporting Dashboard, which was last updated Thursday: Bright Local Schools had one new student case this week and 19 cumulative student cases. It did not have any new staff cases and has had six total staff cases.
Local schools last on vaccine list
By Tim Colliver - tcolliver@aimmediamidwest.com
The five Highland County public school districts, plus two parochial and one private school, are on Gov. Mike DeWine’s COVID-19 vaccination schedule for the week of Feb. 22.
Bright Local, Fairfield Local, Greenfield Exempted Village, Hillsboro City and Lynchburg-Clay School districts are on the list of nearly 400 other schools for the last week of February, which also includes Hillsboro Christian Academy, St. Mary Catholic School and Stonewall Academy.
The vaccines for Ohio K-12 schools have been scheduled for four consecutive weeks beginning Feb. 1, but Highland County schools are not scheduled until the fourth week.
ODH: Increased spread outside school setting
By McKenzie Caldwell - mcaldwell@aimmediamidwest.com
Editor’s Note This story has been updated to clarify that the Ohio Department of Education does not collect data on COVID-19 in schools.
The Ohio Department of Health (ODH) continues to report limited COVID-19 spread in a classroom setting, though there has been an increase in community spread due to informal gatherings outside of school, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine stated this week.
The Ohio Department of Education (ODE) also surveys how districts’ students are learning whether through in-person, hybrid, or remote learning plans though schools are not required to report this information, a representative of the ODE told The Times-Gazette. The data from these surveys are not considered complete or official.