Stephens County Schools to enter Enhanced Mitigation Plan

The Stephens County Board of Education has agreed to implement required quarantines for students and staff that come into close contact with students who test positive for COVID-19.

During the recent Stephens County Board of Education meeting, Stephens County Schools Deputy Superintendent Matt Thompson explained that through the Enhanced Mitigation plan, the School System has been monitoring the 7-day rolling average of percentage positive COVID-19 tests within Stephens County as well as the cumulative cases per 100,000 for the prior 14-days.

Thompson said when both metrics have exceeded the thresholds of more than 10 percent of the population in Stephens County receive positive COVID-19 test results and the cumulative cases per 100,000 exceeds 300 then the system will implement the Enhanced Mitigation plan.

He says after either metric drops below the stated threshold for 10 consecutive days the system will return to Normal Operations.

Board of Education Vice Chair Rod Moore, along with his fellow board members agreed to also include a required quarantine for students and staff who come into close contact with other students who test positive for the virus.

The Department of Public Health reported on Friday that Stephens County had 490 cases per 100,000 residents, exceeding the threshold in that metric for the School System.

As part of the School System’s Enhanced Mitigation Plan, the system will begin implementing preventative practices to ensure the system can consistently provide live school.

Those preventative practices include the following: Faculty and Students may choose to wear a mask based on personal preference; temperature checks will be conducted as needed in the classroom at teacher discretion; Stephens County Schools will follow all legally required isolation and quarantine guidance from the Georgia Department of Public Health; and Schools will work to reduce the number of students in the cafeteria for lunch using the methods that work best for their particular community, such as an A/B schedule and meals in the classroom.

For additional information regarding Stephens County School’s Enhanced Mitigation Plan visit stephenscountyschools.org and click on the link for Return to School Plan.