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Sophie Henschel
The Johnson County Department of Health and Environment (JDCHE) has officially altered their COVID-19 school gating criteria — which the Shawnee Mission School District falls under.
There will now be an incidence rate — which is the number of new COVID-19 cases per 100,000 people within the past two weeks category — added to the preexisting criteria of just the positive percentages.
Middle school and high school students are to learn remotely only if there is an incidence rate of 251 cases or higher per 100,000 people, and a positivity rate of 15%. If the statistics are showing an incidence rate of 151-250 per 100,000 people and a 10.1-15% positivity rate, the JCDHE recommends districts to either keep middle and high schoolers remote or send them in for hybrid.
The secondary students would convert to a hybrid schedule if the incidence rate is 51-150 cases per 100,000 people and a positivity rate of 5.1-10%. They would return to a full in-person schedule if there is a 0-50 incidence rate per 100,000 people and a positivity rate of less than 5%.
The new criteria have been added due to several districts choosing not to follow the criteria, continuing to send students in-person and allowing them to participate in extracurricular activities, because they feel the gating criteria were too strict. Individual districts will still be able to make their own calls regarding what their students will be able to do.
JCDHE still recommends for districts to continue developing plans regarding when they will go hybrid or in-person, and what their plans are to stay sanitary, keep students safe and give options for higher-risk students to continue remote. Stay tuned for further updates from SMSD in regards to pursuing in-person learning.
Their recommendations for the districts are to implement daily symptom screenings, enforce physical distancing, limit room occupancy, hold more in-school-activities outdoors and ensure the use of face masks, hand hygiene and increased ventilation.
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