BY MELINDA SKUTNICK

South Elementary School has returned to all-virtual learning following an increase in COVID-19 reports at the Mooresville school. 

At its meeting on Tuesday, the Mooresville Graded School District Board of Education received information about the district’s coronavirus statistics, including positive cases, exposures, quarantines and symptomatic students and staff.

Since the board’s meeting on October 20, a total of 51 COVID-19 staff reports were made, bringing the district’s total to 164 staff reports, or 24 percent of the entire MGSD staff. From those 51 reports, Assistant Superintendent for Human Resources Ingrid Medlock noted that 31 individuals were exposed to someone who was symptomatic or tested positive. Five of the 51 reports tested positive for COVID-19 throughout the last month.

MGSD has had a total of 23 positive cases out of its 164 reports, or 3.4 percent of staff.

From October 20 through November 10, 49 MGSD staff members quarantined for at least 10 days, per district requirement. A total of 155 staff members have quarantined since the spring.

Since October 19, 173 students across all district schools quarantined with 10 students testing positive.
These reports included information through early Tuesday, November 10.

In an announcement shared with parents on Wednesday, Chief Communications Officer Tanae Sump-McLean noted four positive cases at South Elementary since the start of the week. Additionally, she reported 29 close contacts identified since Monday with 39 individuals – both staff and students – who were required to stay home due to virus-like symptoms as outlined in N.C. Department of Health and Human Services guidelines.

“Due to these increasing numbers, as well as the fact that the number of staff being quarantined for one of the reasons stated above makes it unsafe to conduct school in-person, the district felt it best to return to Plan C for two weeks,” Sump-McLean said.

South Elementary moved to Plan C, virtual learning, on November 12 and will remain under this plan through November 27.

“When making the decision to bring the K-5 schools back to in-person learning at 100 [percent] capacity, MGSD was aware that this scenario would potentially occur and were upfront with our community about the possibility. We apologize for the burden this places on our parents; however, we will always strive to make decisions we feel are in the best interest of our stakeholders, and we will not sacrifice the safety of our students and staff,” Sump-McLean said.

LEARN MORE

MGSD provides a COVID-19 dashboard on its website to communicate district statistics. It is updated every Tuesday and Friday. Learn more at mgsd.k12.nc.us.