A pair of Clark-Pleasant schools will become the first in Johnson County to require students to wear masks.
Effective today, all staff members, students and visitors at Clark-Pleasant Middle School and Break-O-Day Elementary School will be required to wear masks in the school buildings. The move comes after new cases at the two schools exceeded 2% of the student population, Superintendent Patrick Spray said in an email.
The threshold is one the Johnson County Health Department has advised all local schools follow. If, after 10 days, new cases are less than 1% of the student population, masks will be encouraged, but not required, Spray said.
“Unfortunately, COVID rates are putting in-person learning, athletics, performing arts, special events and activities at risk,” Spray said. “Our mission is to educate students, and we believe in-person learning is the best way to do that. This is not a permanent situation, the number of positive cases in each building will be monitored weekly.”
At Clark-Pleasant schools, 65 students and 18 staff members tested positive for COVID-19 last week. As a result, 249 students are in quarantine. At the middle school, 40 students tested positive last week. The district did not release numbers for other schools. Since the start of school July 30, 97 students and 23 staff members have tested positive for the virus, and 389 students have had to quarantine, according to district documents.
Clark-Pleasant last week became the first district in the county to require teachers and staff at all of its schools to wear masks while in the classroom or other congregate indoor settings.
