Since Nov. 24, the Gasconade County R-2 School District has reported 12 staff members and one student COVID-19 positive cases, along with 22 students quarantined.

On Tuesday, Nov. 24, when students were not in school, district officials sent out a letter stating one Owensville Middle School (OMS) student, last on campus Nov. 18, and one staff member from each the Owensville Elementary School (OES) and Gerald Elementary School (GES), as well as the Owensville High School (OHS) tested positive for COVID-19.

In conjunction with the cases above, the health department asked an additional 20 students to quarantine.

On Monday, Nov. 30, the district released a second letter informing families that the following positive COVID-19 cases resulted over the holiday break: two staff members from each the OES and GES buildings; three staff members from OMS, one staff member from OHS, and one transportation staff member.

In conjunction with the Nov. 30 cases, two additional students have been asked to quarantine by the health department.

The letter, signed by Superintendent Dr. Chuck Garner, also stated that most cases were outside the contact tracing window. As secondary contacts there is no further action required at this time.

“The district will continue to communicate all identified positive cases to those identified as close contacts that are directly affected and a district-wide notice will continue to be sent as normal,” the letter from Garner said. “But, due to the change in the mask protocol the district will no longer send out notifications by letter for individuals asked to quarantine from outside exposure. Again, the district will continue to notify all positive cases.”

The Republican reached out to Garner Tuesday afternoon to ask if the statement meant that no quarantine cases would be released or if only school-related quarantines would be released in the future. The Republican also asked if the mask mandate was the reason the public would not be informed by the school of an outside-exposure.

Neither Garner nor Assistant Superintendent Dr. Jeri Kay Hardy was available before press time. Administrative Secretary Peggy Linhardt attempted to clarify why the district will not be reporting on outside exposures in the future.

“If a student was in school and then tested positive then the district will do their contact tracing and we will send out the letter as normal,” Linhardt said. “However if this all happened outside of the school, then we don’t worry about it within the school setting.”

Linhardt noted that the health department’s guidelines have changed and suggested visiting their website.

The district has further been affected by the lack of substitute fill rate. Garner noted in his superintendent’s report that  positive COVID-19 cases and quarantines severely affected the district during the week of Nov. 2-6, when 80 substitute teachers were needed and only 58 or 72.5 percent were available. The best week for the fill rate was Sept. 21-25 with 30 substitutes needed and 30 substitutes were available for a fill rate of 100 percent. In 11 weeks, from Aug. 24 through Nov. 6, the district has requested 405 substitutes and filled 350 for a fill rate of 86.4 percent.

An accumulation of data compiled from Aug. 24 through Nov. 16 showed 18.6 percent of the student population quarantined, 8 percent of the staff population quarantined; and 1.5 percent of the total staff/student population has received a positive COVID-19 diagnosis, for an average of 1 positive staff case and 1.5 positive student case per week.

At 4 p.m. Tuesday, a third letter was sent out. One OMS student, last at school on Nov. 30, tested positive for COVID-19. Close contacts have been notified.