Bronaugh R-7 COVID-positive cases rise to nine

Nine individuals within the Bronaugh R-7 school district have tested positive for the novel coronavirus, Superintendent Jordan Dickey confirmed with the Daily Mail Thursday morning. Those who tested positive are a combination of staff and students.

The number is up by three from Tuesday, as the district previously opted to shut down all in-person class instruction for the entirety of the week.

"Throughout the past several days the district has been made aware of a total of nine active cases of COVID in our school district," Dickey said, in a statement released to the Daily Mail. "We have been fully cooperating with local health departments, as they conduct all necessary contact-tracing. We canceled classes on Monday due to lack of adequate staffing in our classrooms, and an inability to find substitutes. Monday morning, we made the decision to transition to distance learning for the remainder of the week — to allow time for all of the relevant health departments to respond, and to ensure we have enough staff on hand to re-open our building."

Dickey continued: "We are following our re-entry plans, and part of that plan accounted for this potential need to temporarily transition to distance learning. We anticipate opening our building on Tuesday, (Sept. 8). We had previously established a thorough cleaning and sanitation schedule, and are continuing to follow that as we prepare to re-open our building. Our staff will be continuing to wear a facial covering when they are unable to maintain six-feet of distance from the students."

Dickey lauded the R-7 staff for their adaptability during the trying times.

"Our staff (has) done a great job of a quick transition to distance learning, and are working diligently to meet the needs of our students while they can’t be in our building," she said "We are working together, and appreciate the support of our community as we look forward to re-opening on Tuesday."

While the school is temporarily shuttered, the district is allowing its participating students to continue to bus to vocational school on the Nevada R-5 campus. Dickey noted that discussions pertaining to this scenario took place prior to the beginning of the school year.

"Prior to starting school, we had discussions with Vo-Tech about our students continuing to attend — if either ourselves or Nevada had switched to temporary distance learning," Dickey explained. "These things had been planned out ahead of time. Our building was closed in large part, due to not having enough staff on hand, and a lack of substitutes. If students weren’t placed in quarantine, or isolation, and were safe to go about their business, Vo-Tech said they could continue attending as planned — because they were fully staffed."