MOUNT VERNON — Knox County Career Center Schools released its back-to-school plan to parents and students Tuesday evening, including COVID-19 health guidelines that follow the guidance set by other Knox County districts.
KCCCS will not be mandating mask-wearing in the classroom, but the district highly recommends staff and students wear masks, superintendent Kathrine Greenich said. The district includes KCCC high school, KCCC preschool and Knox Technical Center.
“We got opinions from our board, from our administration and then also because six schools feed to us, we looked at what all of our other schools were doing,” Greenich said, regarding how the district came to its decision.
While staff and students are not required to wear masks in KCCCS classrooms, Tuesday’s press release states students should still have a mask with them at all times.
“Parents and essential visitors to KCCC High School and Preschool will be required to wear a mask,” the release reads. “Students should have a mask with them at all times. They may be requested to wear one when in office areas where social distancing can not take place.”
Students will be required to wear masks on school buses, which is a federal requirement.
Staff and students will be asked to conduct a daily health assessment before coming to school, and the district advises any student or staff member who is sick to not go to school/work, according to Tuesday’s release.
If student attendance rates drop during the 2021-22 school year or if there is a lack of staff due to virus exposure or cases, the district may change its guidelines for mask-wearing, Greenwich said.
KCCCS will also consider the status of other districts when contemplating changing guidelines.
“If let’s say Mount Vernon had to close down for several days, that may change what we do, too,” Greenwich said. “We would look at moving to a mask mandate based on various scenarios.”
As of now, there is no set number of cases or percentage of the school population quarantining that would warrant a policy change.
“We’re going to wait and see,” Greenich said, rather than setting specific limits now.
KCCCS has a Knox Public Health nurse on staff, Jenn Bohman, so Greenich said the district will be working closely with KPH to guide future health-related regulations, as well as looking to the guidance of the Ohio Department of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The district will follow ODH’s quarantine procedures and those detailed in the Ohio Revised Code.
“Any student (or adult) not vaccinated and not consistently wearing a mask may not be able to attend school in person while in quarantine status, which could last from 7-14 days,” according to Tuesday’s release.
Online learning will not be offered at KCCCS during the 2021-22 school year.
“Last year we did offer online when we were in a hybrid learning plan, but this year we are not offering it at this time,” Greenwich said. “But we are prepared to do what we need to do if things change.”
“With career tech, it’s very hard to do online, so we want them here and in-person.”
KCCCS will be monitoring student conduct, per its code of conduct, and will not condone people being made fun of for their personal masking decisions, according to Tuesday’s release.
Nearby Centerburg Local Schools superintendent Mike Hebenthal also emphasized the need to monitor harassment during Centerburg’s education board meeting Monday.
“There will be no tolerance for anyone harassing another person about whether or not they are wearing or not wearing a mask or whether they are vaccinated or not,” the KCCCS release states.
