Center Grove schools will follow the leads of other local schools, including Central Nine Career Center, Clark-Pleasant and Franklin schools, in making face masks optional during the upcoming school year.
As students across the county head back to school in the coming weeks, school officials are making plans for a safe return. Most elementary and middle school students — those age 12 and younger — cannot get vaccinated against COVID-19.
Center Grove school board members made sure to outline when masks would be required during a meeting earlier this month. Students who have been identified as close contacts to someone who tests positive for COVID-19 will have the option to come back to school on the eighth day after exposure, provided they are asymptomatic and test negative for the virus. If they come back to school, they’ll have to wear a mask until the twelfth day after exposure, when they will be allowed to go without a mask, according to school documents.
The subject of quarantine drew the ire of school board members. The school’s plans were approved by a 3-2 vote, with board members Amy Counts and Joe Hubbard voting against it.
Even with the affirmative vote, there should be further discussion later on, board member Scott Alexander said.
“It’s hard to believe we’re continuing to quarantine kids in the school building,” Alexander said. “We still have to have a reopening plan. While it may not be perfect, I would like further discussion on quarantining rules.”
With vaccination rates increasing in the three zip codes that include Center Grove schools — between 63% and 73% of eligible residents are vaccinated — the Indiana Department of Health should change its guidance, and schools should be able to loosen quarantine restrictions, Hubbard said.
“I’m ready for principals to get back to doing their job, for you to get back to your jobs. This is a slap in the face to the school district,” he said.
Center Grove schools will once again welcome volunteers, provided they wear a mask, but no lunch time visitors will be allowed for the time being, according to the district’s plans.
School staff should keep at least three feet of separation between students when possible. Schools will also continue cleaning high-touch areas, such as restrooms and water fountains, to limit the spread of infection, plans show.
Center Grove students are set to return to classrooms Aug. 5.
