A decision to shut down Chattanooga Christian School for two weeks due to a rise in coronavirus cases has brought anguish to students and parents - especially Covid-free football players that were poised for a second-round playoff game on Friday night.
There is also strong disagreement on whether having students in school or out congregating on their own is the best method to curb the spread.
Chad Dirkse, CCS superintendent, maintained that an order came from the county Health Department "to close the whole school."
Dr. Paul Hendricks, county health officer, said the final closure decision was left up to school officials.
He said, "The HCHD has recommended to CCS that they close their school to in-person learning for the next 2 weeks due to a sudden increase in cases of COVID-19. This recommendation is made to control the spread of this disease to their other students and staff. Any final decision about school closures are made by the school involved. We appreciate the cooperation of CCS in agreeing to this recommendation."
Supt. Dirkse told parents on the Facebook page for parents, “I appreciate the concern and just want to make a few things clear. We have been publishing a COVI-19 positive confirmed case list since the beginning of this school years. It is available in the resource section of my CCS and shows you a detailed list of each of the positive cases. Currently have 15 active cases and that has increased rapidly in the last several days even as some active cases have dropped off the list. There will be more added to this list today. The letter I sent on 11/9 that communicated my own COVID-19 positive included 3 large quarantines and did not address community spread. The COVID-19 positive sheet published at the time of the letter showed several cases that were tied to community spread. We have been dealing with an acceleration of cases from the end of last week through today and were in close contact with the HCHD throughout the week.
"The decision of the HCHD was based on that accelerated community spread, and a confirmed positive in preschool that required the quarantine of a full prek class due to the CDC guidance that changed a couple weeks ago about how close contact is defined. For the purposes of that definition, close contact is defined now as contact inside of 6 feet for 15 cumulative minutes throughout a 24 hour period. That changes for the HCHD from 10 minutes of continuous contact inside of 6 feet.
"That said, the while the close contact definition did change, that did not affect the HCHD's decision to tell us to close the whole school. It was the bloom in cases that happened between last Friday and yesterday. We were surprised that they told us to close the whole school and were hoping their closure decision would be limited to the high school only. It didn't work out that way. What you can't see from the COVID-19 positive sheet is the testing we are waiting to return. We have had very full days of testing on campus that we are waiting on results and there is a busy testing day today as well. The HCHD has stated that it also is considering the significant growth in symptomatic cases that are waiting on test results.
"I completely understand the frustration this closing creates. I simply want to make sure we are clear and the reason we have published an active case list all year is so that you could see the trends as they materialized. As we have stated before, we recognize there are wide ranges of perspectives on what the correct protocols should be. We lobbied hard to avoid a full closure and the HCHD disagreed. We continue to publish contact information for administration where you can have open contact with people who have to respond to these decisions by the HCHD. We also will have the 4 recording from the Zoom calls last night available later today for anyone who wasn't able to connect last night. They will be in the resource page of your myCCS portal."
The closure lit up the parents page:
These are some of the comments:
"In light of the recent closing of our school I feel a need to share my thoughts. I have received emails regarding only a few positive cases within the school (I think 4 to be exact but would need to double check). The email we received regarding our President testing positive also reiterated this with only a few classes requiring quarantine. We were also told all of the cases were not a result of school community spread. We then get an email somewhat suddenly stating the HCHD guidelines require CCS to close for 2 weeks. I am a RN and my husband is a MD. This makes NO sense whatsoever to us as medical professionals. I understand HIPPA and the potential for stigma but I also understand the right to know. I will pray for our school. As a RN with extensive experience clinically and administratively the information we have been given and the action taken do not match. I am supportive of closing and any precautions taken however, my trust in accurate information is shaken. WRCB is reporting CCS community spread yet we have been told there has been no community spread via emails. I will watch ZOOM today.
I completely 100% agree ... a complete over-reaction!!!
This situation is ridiculous.
You are right.
We 100% agree!
The zoom was enlightening. There are 16 cases (still a really low number). There was spread within the school which was a first to the extent. Mr. Dirkse said HCHD asked CCS to close and he believes that it is as much because the increase in Hamilton county while there was a “bloom” at CCS too. The high school zoom is worth a watch. Won’t make you feel different about the over-reaction but explains why.
I just want people to evaluate the true intent for the HD to shut the school. If it is to stop the spread of a virus, then that is the last thing you should do. The only thing keeping the high schoolers from massive social outings was the desire to stay in school and play sports and other activities. And it was working! But now they once again feel kicked in the gut and have lost all incentive. They do not fear this virus the same way the government wishes them to do. You cannot mandate compliance, but you can incentivize healthy decisions. If the HD thinks they deterred a spread they are completely wrong. They have only moved it to another location and encouraged reckless behavior from our youth. It is much safer for all involved to keep schools open regardless of cases. Students always have the option to learn from home if their families feel differently. I love our school and our students, let's keep it open for them!
The mental and social toll these kids are facing is far greater than this virus. The kids need to be in school. Oh but we have a “zoom” meeting to deal with mental health issues next week. Too late in my opinion. Kids are home with several devastated by dreams being completely crushed with school, athletics and other events cancelled that they worked so hard for all summer and all school year.
I watched all three zooms last night and it is not because of community spread within CCS. More broadly about Hamilton County spread. My husband and I are both in the medical field as well and we also do not agree, especially the closure of the lower school when the positives have mainly been in the upper (as far i as know only 2 active cases in lower school) and we were told taking all these precautions, including masking our small children would make a difference. I believe at best closing all three was an over reaction for fear of liability and I am sad that we are not weighing as heavily all the other ramifications.