Jefferson City schools issue new COVID-19 protocols, rubric

Lockers line a hallway at Jefferson City High School in this May 6, 2019, photo.
Lockers line a hallway at Jefferson City High School in this May 6, 2019, photo.

After more than a month of school, the Jefferson City School District announced major changes in its COVID-19 protocols by lifting the in-school mask mandate, lifting the requirement to quarantine when exposed to COVID-19 at school in most cases and implementing a COVID-19 rubric to evaluate any trends in case numbers.

The announcement from Superintendent Larry Linthacum went out Thursday and explained that the district had seen "a comparable number of positive cases and a significantly lower number of close contacts compared to last year at this time."

The message also said there had been no instances of close contacts within schools becoming positive cases. In September, Chad Sooter, JC Schools director of health services, indicated he wanted a month's worth of data to consider before determining the COVID-19 status of the district, according to previous News Tribune reporting.

On Friday, all schools in the district will be moved into the green category, indicating the lowest risk-level for COVID-19 and lifting of several requirements.

Prior to the letter, masks had been required inside buildings where social distancing of 3 feet could not be maintained. According to the announcement, effective Friday, masks will not be required but will still be encouraged especially for those who are not vaccinated. Masks will still be required on school buses, per a federal CDC order.

As part of the announcement, the school district will no longer require students and staff to quarantine after exposure to a positive case of COVID-19 at school in most cases. The school will still notify people if they are close contacts and may still require quarantine based on severity of symptoms, length of exposure and proximity to the positive case.

If students and staff are exposed to COVID-19 outside of the school, they will still need to quarantine or meet designated guidelines before coming back to school.

The district's new COVID-19 rubric will track the number of cases at least weekly at school and will sort each school into a category: either green, yellow or red.

When a school moves into a higher-risk category, it will take on new COVID-19 restrictions for at least 10 days but may move back down after the 10 days if the numbers warrant it.

The categories are as follows:

Green

- Social distancing, handwashing, staying home when sick are necessary

- Masks encouraged indoors when social distancing can't be maintained

- Field trips allowed

- Gatherings and assemblies allowed if social distancing is possible, with masks encouraged if not.

- Quarantine requirement may be lifted by the school. Otherwise, quarantine of close contacts required.

- Visitors for educational purposes allowed with masks

Yellow

- Social distancing, handwashing, staying home when sick are necessary

- Masks required indoors when social distancing can't be maintained

- Field trips allowed with approval to low-risk areas

- Gatherings and assemblies allowed if social distancing is possible, with masks required if not.

- Non-vaccinated close contacts must quarantine

- Visitors for educational purposes allowed with masks

Red

- Social distancing, handwashing, staying home when sick are necessary

- Masks required indoors always

- Field trips not allowed

- Gatherings and assemblies not allowed unless approved with appropriate risk-mitigation

- Non-vaccinated close contacts must quarantine

- Visitors for educational purposes allowed with masks

- Schools may need to move to distance learning