COVID spike at Phenix City school prompts leader to reduce number of in-person students
A rise in COVID-19 cases has prompted Phenix City Schools to implement a plan at one school that cuts in half the number of students attending in-person classes.
In what PCS superintendent Randy Wilkes called “a cooling off period” to prevent even higher COVID numbers, Phenix City Intermediate School reopened Tuesday after with only 50% of its 1,100 students allowed to attend in-person classes while the other 50% attended virtually from home.
The same split continued Wednesday, then the groups will switch for Thursday and Friday.
“Everybody is getting the same instruction every day,” Wilkes told the Ledger-Enquirer. “But we’re able to socially distance better — we’re talking about 6 feet — when we bring 50% in.”
This strategy is a stopgap before having to completely stop in-person classes, Wilkes said.
“I’m just trying to do two days of childcare for parents instead of doing two weeks,” he said.
The attendance at PCIS had dipped below 85% all five school days last week, with a low of 79.39% reported on Sept. 3. That’s what prompted this decision, Wilkes said. Unless the in-person student attendance rate doesn’t improve this week, he expects all PCIS students to be allowed to return to in-person classes Monday.
“We’re going to bring them back and see if we can consistently keep (attendance) above 85%,” he said.
No PCIS classrooms have been closed, Wilkes said, because the COVID cases are “sporadic within the classrooms. I’ve been able to identify only one or two kids because of all the kids that have (tested) positive this year that were side-by-side. … The majority of them are getting it from home, from family, from weekend stays and so forth.”
Among the 11 Phenix City public schools, five others had at least one day of attendance at less than 85% last week:
- Central High 84.42% Sept. 3
- Meadowlane Elementary 84.75% Sept. 3
- Phenix City Elementary 83.75% Sept. 2
- Ridgecrest Elementary 83.88% Sept. 3
- Westview Elementary 84.40% Sept. 2 and 84.32% Sept. 3.
But the rate of COVID positive tests among students and employees at PCIS (4.39%) is more than double the rate at any other school in the district during the 10 days ending Sept. 3.
Understanding COVID isn’t the only reason for absences, Wilkes noted one-fourth of the most recent reports of positive tests in the school district are from PCIS.
“So that just lets me know it’s hotter there,” he said.
