TULSA, Okla. — All school districts within the region have students under quarantine after they were exposed or contracted the virus. This prompted some districts to go completely virtual for at least two weeks due of the spike in COVID-19 cases.
Most of the school districts have a rolling count for the number of students and staff quarantining with COVID-19. More recently, Bixby, Muskogee, and Broken Arrow high schools are moving to virtual learning for a short period of time after contact tracers found that too many students had to quarantine based on exposure.
“I wanted to make sure we have caution and provide the best safety we can,” said Dr. Jarod Mendenhall, superintendent for Muskogee Public Schools.
The spike in cases prompted the entire district to go virtual for Monday and Tuesday. The high school, middle school, and early learning center continued online through Friday. That gave contact tracers more time to identify those who were exposed. In-person learning will resume on Monday. Those directly exposed will be required to quarantine for 14 days.
Meanwhile, a spike in cases in Broken Arrow has resulted in more than 700 students and staff quarantined, prompting the district to move to online learning for at least two weeks, starting Monday.
This comes just one day after Bixby Public Schools announced they to will move to online-learning for two weeks; also starting on Monday.
With community case numbers reaching an all-time high, Bixby Public Schools Superintendent Rob Miller said this is a good time to reset, clean, and have everyone quarantine.
“We could reset our numbers and our teachers can catch back up and make sure we’re adequate to serve all of our students,” Miller said.
Union Public Schools has nearly 600 students and staff quarantining after they were exposed. However, they will continue with in-person learning on Monday.
Each school district has their own pandemic response. Below are helpful links to each district's COVID-19 protocols:
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