Simpson Elementary School in the Arnold area has shut its building because of the spread of COVID-19 among staff members. That means all Simpson Elementary students will learn entirely from home online until Nov. 16.
In addition, the Fox C-6 School District has postponed expanding in-person instruction from two days to four days a week for its youngest students because of the virus’s spread through Jefferson County.
District officials now say Nov. 16 is the earliest in-class instruction for students in kindergarten through second grade could be expanded by two days a week.
Simpson closure
The district announced Monday night (Nov. 2) that in-class instruction at Simpson Elementary, 3585 Vogel Road, was suspended because more than 5 percent of its staff members had tested positive for COVID-19, said JP Prezzavento, Fox’s communications and instructional technology coordinator.
As of today (Nov. 3), the Fox district COVID-19 dashboard shows that of Simpson’s 64 employees, five had tested positive for the virus. That is 7.8 percent of its staff.
“As a result of these positive cases, in conjunction with guidance from the state and Jefferson County Health Department and out of an abundance of caution, Simpson Elementary will be closed beginning tomorrow (Nov. 3) for 10 days,” Simpson Principal Bryan Clark said in a letter to parents on Monday. “In our re-entry plan, there are specific guidelines outlined in the closure considerations section which we are following. Based on the five lab-confirmed positive test results, we are now above the 5 percent threshold previously established. This closure only impacts Simpson Elementary School. All other schools in Fox C-6 will continue to operate in hybrid learning.”
Simpson Elementary has 346 students, and 257 of those are enrolled in the district’s Flexible Learning Plan. Of those 257 students, about half attend class in person on Mondays and Tuesdays and the other half on Thursdays and Fridays. The school has 89 students enrolled in Fox’s Virtual Academy, which means they learn online from home.
As of today, one Simpson student was out of school after testing positive for the virus. Simpson has the district’s smallest student population among smallest number of staff members.
“During this temporary closure, all students will participate in 100 percent virtual learning until we resume hybrid instruction on Monday (Nov. 16),” Clark wrote. “While the building is closed, district staff will deeply disinfect all areas of the building. Additionally, we will continue to monitor the symptoms of students and staff members via the district’s daily symptom checker.”
School meals will be available to families during Simpson Elementary’s closure. The meals may be picked up at the school between 9-11 a.m. each school day.
No classes were held at any of the Fox district schools on Monday and today because of the election.
In addition, no classes will be held on Nov. 12 and 13 because of parent-teacher conferences.
District families may pick up meals for Nov. 12-13 on Nov. 11.
“During this school closure, each member of the Simpson community must continue to practice good hand hygiene and social distancing,” Clark wrote. “Please try to avoid large gatherings and always be sure to wear a face covering when you are around people who do not live in your household.”
Fox Superintendent Nisha Patel said it was difficult to have to shut down the school.
“We worked together to discuss all the options and collaborated with the Jefferson County Health Department. Based on all the information, I felt we needed to make the decision in an abundance of caution to keep our students and staff safe.
“We want to remain with in-person learning as much as possible and having done that for over a quarter now without having to temporarily close a district building amidst such high transmission rates in the community is remarkable. My hope is that we continue to take all the precautions needed and provide our students with a safe learning environment.”
No other Fox school have closed buildings this school year because of the virus, but Sherwood Elementary in Arnold – the district’s second smallest school with 379 students and 63 staff members – is near the temporary-closure threshold. The school has 271 students attending in-person classes and 108 students learning at home through Fox’s Virtual Academy.
As of today, the school at 1769 Missouri State Road has three staff members listed as not working because of testing positive for COVID-19. That is 4.7 percent of Sherwood’s staff.
The school has no students unable to attend class because of testing positive for the virus as of today.
Expanded classroom time delayed
Fox’s youngest students were set to have more time in classrooms beginning Thursday (Nov. 5).
However, that plan was put on hold after the Health Department announced on Monday afternoon that the county moved into the red status on its COVID-19 warning system.
When the county, which has a population of about 225,000 people, has a rolling average of 25 or more COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents per day, it is moved to the highest level on the system – the red level, which indicates widespread and uncontrolled transmission of the virus and calls for more mitigation to curb the spread of the virus.
Since Oct. 7, the county had been in the orange level, the second highest level, which indicates widespread but controlled transmission of the virus.
On Monday, Fox district officials announced in a letter to parents that the earliest date in-person instruction for kindergarten through second-grade students could be expanded would be Nov. 16, but only if the county is no longer in the red status on Wednesday (Nov. 11).
The Health Department typically updates the county’s status on Tuesdays or Wednesdays.
“I recognize this is hard for all of our students and families and appreciate them showing us grace during these challenging times,” Patel said. “Everyone has the same goal of increasing in-person days, while doing it in a safe manner.”
The Fox district began the 2020-2021 school year Aug. 27, with about 77 percent of its 10,981 students enrolled in the hybrid learning model, and 23 percent learning online from home. About half of the students in the hybrid model attend in-person classes on Monday and Tuesday and the other half on Thursday and Friday, with those students learning from home the rest of the school week.
Those numbers will still change on Thursday, Patel said.
After Fox announced its plan to increase in-person instruction for kindergarten through second-grade students, the district reported that 66 students transferred from the Virtual Academy to take part in the increased in-person instruction, and 12 students moved from attending class in-person to learn from home.
That means 1,978 students in kindergarten through second grade are expecting to attend in-class instruction four days a week when that expansion occurs, and 273 students are set to continue to learn from home.
Based on those numbers, the district was able to assign teachers to either classroom instruction or online instruction through the Virtual Academy.
Fox has assigned 104 teachers to provide in-person instruction and 15 teachers to provide virtual instruction.
Because of the limited number of teachers required to provide virtual instruction, 121 kindergarten through second-grade students will be taught by a teacher who is not from the school they normally attend.
For example, a kindergarten teacher from Fox Elementary School will teach 23 students virtually. That teacher’s student roster will include seven from Fox Elementary, eight from Clyde Hamrick Elementary and four from Meramec Height Elementary, the district reported.
Patel said in a letter to parents that students who opted to start attending class in person and those students who moved to the Virtual Academy will still do that on Thursday. She also said teachers will start teaching in-person or virtually exclusively on that day.
“These have been extremely trying times, but our focus remains on student and staff safety while maintaining a level of in-person instruction,” Patel said. “Our hope is we as a community can work together to reduce the transmission rate. “
Because Fox is delaying increasing in-person instruction for its youngest students, it also will push back when it will increase in-person instruction for students in third through fifth grade.
The third- through fifth-grade students were scheduled to start attending class in person four days a week on Nov. 23.
Patel said Fox will communicate with families when a new date is selected.
The district has not announced a date for when students in the middle schools and high schools may start attending in-person classes more frequently.
Patel said more details need to be worked out for older students since they frequently change classrooms through the course of a day. She also noted that secondary students have had more positive COVID-19 cases than younger students.
“The bigger challenge for secondary (students), in particular our high school, is that is where we are seeing the most quarantines and positive cases both in our district and in the community,” Patel said. “Therefore, we will need to be very diligent about following our mitigating factors when we bring all students back at all levels.”
