Greenwood schools leader: ‘We are caught in the middle’ on COVID choices
GREENWOOD, Ind. (WISH) — Masks are going from optional to required for students and staff at Greenwood Community Schools, making them the first in Johnson County to do so districtwide this school year.
Clark-Pleasant Schools in Whiteland currently requires masks to be worn at Break-O-Day Elementary and Clark-Pleasant Middle School.
Greenwood Schools started the year off as masks optional. Now almost two weeks in, the superintendent says they have seen a surge in recent days with more than 100 students in the district in quarantine.
“Over the weekend and into Monday, we had, I would call it a surge, especially at our middle school. We had a lot more positive cases, when I say a lot more it is all relative to our size of district. Over the first eight days we had 12 positive cases. In one day we had six. Again today we had six,” said Terry Terhune, superintendent of Greenwood Community School Corp.
Terhune says the district will keep a close eye on the numbers and reevaluate the mask requirement over Labor Day weekend, “look to see do masks make a difference? How much of a difference do they make? And what sort of impact will they make on our current quarantine rate and positive rate over the next two, two and a half weeks.”
He says the goal is to make masks optional again for students after Labor Day weekend.
The district currently has more than 100 kids out on quarantine due to contracting COVID or contact tracing. In addition, the superintendent says, many have been out of school for showing COVID-related symptoms this week.
“This year has been a lot less certain as far as just our guidelines and how we operate. Last year, it was pretty clear-cut: You are going to wear masks and things like that,” the superintendent said.
The school board did not have to vote on the decision because it is short-term. However, at Tuesday’s school board meeting, parents wanted took the opportunity to voice their opinions.
“As a mom, this hurts. My kids don’t want to come to school, they don’t want to ride the bus, and my husband and I work. We run a business, and it is hard to do that when you have you have six children that don’t want to be in school. They don’t want to have to deal with wearing a mask,” said parent Nina Schreiber.
“The safety about vaccines, masks efficacy and all that is not controversial among scientists. This is a social and political controversy not a scientific one,” said Evan Camp, a science teacher.
Johnson County is currently orange on the Indiana State Department of Health’s map. The latest recommendation from the Johnson County Health Department aligns with the the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in that everyone should be wearing masks in schools despite vaccination status. However, the county health department also says it would support schools should they choose to make mask wearing a “recommendation,” therefore putting the pressure on each district to make the decision for themselves.
Terhune said, “We are caught in the middle and it has not been an easy decision for us in Greenwood, and I know in neighboring districts when we talk to them, there is a lot of debate going on to make decisions that truly I believe somebody with a medical background should continue to make.”