Madison schools now requiring masks
Madison Central High School went to distance learning Wednesday — not due to COVID — instead because of a power outage.
At the same time, the phones and internet were down at Madison Middle, Madison Station, East Flora, Mannsdale Upper and Mannsdale Lower. These schools did have power and classes resumed as usual.
Madison Schools District spokesperson Gene Wright said the power outage was an Entergy issue and she anticipated the power would be restored later in the day.
“Hopefully, it will just be a blip on the radar,” Wright said Wednesday morning.
Schools began last week with a “soft start” with only half of the students attending classes each day Aug. 10-12 under a mask-optional COVID-19 Level 2 protocol and the first full day being Friday, Aug. 13.
Before the first full day of school last Friday, however, Madison County Schools instituted COVID-19 Level 3 requiring people to wear masks on campuses, school officials announced in an Aug. 11 letter to parents.
“Beginning the school year with a soft start, with only half our student population on each campus each day, has mitigated the impact of COVID-19 in our schools so far,” said Superintendent Charlotte Seals in the Wednesday, Aug. 11, letter to parents. “With the return of all students to campus together at the end of this week and based on projections of state and local case numbers, we feel that COVID cases in our schools will rise without an increase in precautionary measures. We want to be proactive and do everything we can to keep classes in session.”
The Madison County Schools district is operating under a COVID-19 protocol system with Levels 1 through 3. Under Levels 1 and 2 masks are optional for all faculty and students (PreK-12) regardless of vaccination status.
Level 3 states that “all faculty and students (PreK-12) regardless of vaccination status, will wear masks at all times practicable while indoors and on buses.”
The COVID-19 Protocol Level 3 will be in place for 14 calendar days, after which the district will reevaluate depending on circumstances in our area, the district’s Aug. 11 letter to parents states.
The school district on Aug. 16 posted COVID-19 statistics from within the district for the week of Aug. 9 that showed the district had 105 active COVID-19 cases for an 0.72% of the population with active cases and 264 students quarantined.
For more information, refer to the MCS Reentry Guidelines on the district’s website at www.madison-schools.com.