The first three days of the new school year in the Mitchell school district are in the books and Superintendent Joe Graves is pleased overall. Graves issued his weekly reports to parents Friday which appears below and addresses the COVID-19 issue:
Dear Mitchell School District Parent,
For several months now, I’ve been sending you this weekly update regarding school re-opening, school meals, and a number of other topics. This week, the purpose of the update changes. While I will still include some other information, the main point of this update going forward will be to report to you any COVID-19 cases that are relevant to our schools.
Before I give you the most recent information, I need to offer a couple of clarifications:
- I’m not including information from before the start of the school year. Thus, for example, if a student was ill last June who also plays a sport for Mitchell, that won’t appear in the data I am including.
- The data I’ll be giving you is only for those situations that occurred for the week just ending.
- I can only report what I know. If you’ve heard of a case but it’s never been reported to me through the Department of Health, the person/parent involved, or our medical community, I can’t report it because I don’t know about it.
- I’ll be reporting COVID-19 confirmed cases (those who have tested positive for the virus) and ‘close contact’ cases. Close contact means someone who has been exposed to a confirmed case, i.e. who meets the S. D. Department of Health definitions as such.
- I will be reporting cases only in aggregate. I must respect privacy rights and do so happily.
- If your child’s classroom or program is affected by any identified cases, a separate notice will be sent to you as soon as we are aware of it. This will be in addition to—and usually earlier than– this weekly report.
- Finally, the format of this weekly report may change over time as situations progress.
COVID-19 Report by Building: Week of August 19-21, 2020
Confirmed Cases Close Contact Cases
Longfellow Elementary School: 0 0
Gertie Belle Rogers Elementary School: 0 0
L.B. Williams Elementary School: 0 1 Student*
Mitchell Middle School: 0 1 Student*
Mitchell High School: 0 1 Student*
*These three students were identified before school began and have never been present at school this year. They will begin their school year at school only once DOH guidelines for ‘return to school’ have been met.
I hope you find this report useful. Thank you for your time and attention.
Sincerely,
Joseph Graves, Superintendent of Schools