Clarkdale High School students to follow a distance-learning plan for 2 weeks

The Lauderdale County School District has announced that all students at Clarkdale High School will be following a virtual learning schedule for the next 2 weeks, due to an uptick in the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases on the high school’s campus.

According to a statement released by the district’s superintendent, Dr. John Mark Cain, under the districts protocol, at Clarkdale High School they have exceeded the number of confirmed coronavirus cases, and those ordered to quarantine due to close contact.

9th- 12th grade students at Clarkdale High School are expected to return to on-campus learning on Thursday, November 12, to follow the enhanced traditional learning option.

The Lauderdale County School District’s lead nurse, Sheri Shelby, shared that the district makes decisions like this after performing thorough contact tracing.

Usually what happens is, we are contact tracing, we’re looking at the numbers –if you have a classroom that might have, --or a grade that might have more than 3 students that have come down with COVID or been diagnosed with COVID, or you have a football team that more than 3 on that, then that’s reported. We do a report every Monday, but its also reported to our contact person at the state dept. of health and then they decide if it has become an outbreak or not,” said Sheri Shelby, LCSD lead nurse.

Also sharing that the district depends on parents, students, and staff have been forthcoming with information, if they believe themselves to be sick.

“We do encourage the community to still work with us, still work with the school. Notify us if you’ve got a family member that’s sick, if you’re sick, if the child’s sick. Don’t send them to school with signs and symptoms,” said Shelby.

The Lauderdale County School District will continue to follow advised guidelines from the Mississippi State Department of Health and the CDC to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 amongst students.