ATHLETICS

Dear BEA Community:We are planning to have in-person learning at all schools in the district starting Monday, December 7.  We are now under new guidelines from the state, so the only thing that could potentially affect this would be if several staff members who are currently under quarantine would test positive and we would reach the threshold set by the state.  That is unlikely to happen but I need to let you know that much of the decision making on closing schools with numbers of cases has been taken out of our hands locally.
I want to assure everyone that I would not be reopening schools to in-person learning if I felt doing so would be unsafe.  So far, our mitigation efforts at school have been very successful.  Nearly every case has come from the outside.  But on a positive note, very few students or staff that have been quarantined from a case brought into school have contracted Covid.
This is an evolving situation and while I am hopeful we will be able to stay open until Christmas Break, it is impossible to predict what the future will hold.  I know that the uncertainty of this situation is stressful and impacts everyone, especially families, if schools need to shut down.  The best thing everyone can do is to stay home if you are sick, even if you think it is just a cold.  Many of our cases have had minor symptoms and some individuals have had no symptoms.  Yet these individuals are carriers of the virus and could infect someone who may develop severe symptoms.
This week, we had two staff members test positive, but they became symptomatic over Thanksgiving.  A great majority of those students and staff that were quarantined prior to Thanksgiving will be able to return to school on Monday.  
I will continue to keep you updated as events unfold.  If anything changes over the weekend, I will notify you immediately.  We are looking forward to having the students return to school on Monday.
Sincerely,
Scott V. Graham
Superintendent