The rising number of COVID-19 cases has now forced the Platte County R-3 School District into all-distance learning modes beginning this week.
District superintendent Dr. Mike Reik told board members last Thursday, Nov. 19, the district would not wait and would switch to all-distance learning beginning Monday, Nov. 23, with the idea of returning back to hybrid-learning if conditions get better after the holiday break.
Reik told board members the decision to quickly move to distance learning also hinged on the district’s support staff and substitute teachers. Reik said during the holiday week those resources would be at a minimum.
Reik said the decision mostly rested on advice from local health professionals across the metro area who are warning that hospital beds are already full to capacity and that the system is stressed to its limits.
“What we’re left with is having to make a decision that we know a certain percentage of our population will not receive well,” Reik said. “We want our kids to be back in person but we want to do that with the support of our local health officials.”
Reik told the Platte County Citizen his email and phone message banks are full of messages from concerned parents. One parent, Sara Wise, the mother of an eighth grade student in the district, is one of those parents. She addressed the board by saying she understands everyone has a hard job but scolded local health officials saying they have “failed” in protecting the community. Wise quoted numbers saying the survival rate from COVID-19 is 99 percent but didn’t cite a source.
“Many households have been negatively impacted from a mental standpoint, 100 percent,” Wise said.
Last month the R-3 board approved a plan for students to return to full in-person learning beginning Nov. 30 with middle school students and a full return for high school students second semester.
Board member Bobby Vann told Reik he wants to see the district move forward and doesn’t believe the problem is as big in the district as it is in other places.
“We’re away from the metro, we’re north of it,” Vann said. “I would like for an opportunity to get these kids back in school. We have a plan in place. I think we should move forward and try it.”
Reik reiterated the need to listen to public health officials and the Platte County Health Department.
“I’m not a public health expert,” Reik said. “I don’t think any of us would call ourselves experts in public health, so we’ve got to rely on those experts.”
Reik also disagreed with Vann’s assessment of the situation.
“The numbers in Platte County are just as alarming as they are in Kansas City,” Reik said. “It’s here.”
Reik said in making this decision, and many others, other factors besides the COVID-19 positivity rates are considered. Reik said some of these decisions are the hardest he’s ever had to make in his career.
“These are our decisions and they shouldn’t be made just looking at numbers,” Reik said. “They should be made weighing quantitative and qualitative factors. It was a very hard decision and not necessarily where I wanted to go.
“With all of those factors we thought it was appropriate to hit pause.”
Reik said a month ago when the board decided to go with a plan to return to all in-person learning the numbers in the district were stagnant. However, in the last couple of weeks they’ve continued to grow.
“There was a time where we could say we were doing better in Platte County in terms of numbers but that time has passed,” Reik said. “We are now in the same situation as the rest of the region.”
Some parents and others have questioned the district’s protocols on quarantining students. Wise brought the issue up during her address to the board and asked why a kid who tested positive was allowed back after only a few days while others were isolated for 14 days.
Reik was also asked by board members what the numbers were in comparison to positive cases. Three weeks ago the district had three positive cases out of roughly 150 people quarantined. Two weeks ago the number jumped to five people. Data was not yet available for the prior week.
Reik said he cannot quantify the numbers because the data isn’t reliable. Reik said some people are put into quarantine while others do it on their own. Reik said the district is depending on parents to report those numbers.
“We only know what families are reporting to us,” Reik said. “We have no idea how many of these cases turn positive.”
Reik also said privately he’s advocated for changing the protocols for quarantine with the Platte County Health Department but has since changed his thinking after talking with health professionals across the metro.
“We’re living a science experiment,” Reik said. “What I’m advocating for one day may not be rooted in science and we’re learning the science as we go. I would love to have the leniency but at this time I don’t know what the cost of that leniency would be. I have to defer to the public health officials.”
Reik defended the health department’s stance because it follows Centers for Disease Control (CDC) guidelines. Reik said the department has always followed those guidelines. He also said it’s not helpful when the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS) comes up with a different set of guidelines.
“When you have health departments saying different things it puts us in a terrible position,” Reik said.
“I think we’re being reasonable,” Reik said. “I know some of our parents wouldn’t agree to that.”
The Park Hill School District also decided to move to all-distance learning beginning next Monday, Nov. 30, for a two week period. The Citizen contacted Superintendent Dr. Jeanette Cowherd with some specific questions about the move but was referred to a prepared statement on the district’s website that didn’t address the questions.
“Both because of the health risk to our students and staff and because of the increasing issues we’re having with staffing, we will be moving to distance learning for the entire district, preschool through 12th grade, from Monday, Nov. 30, through Friday, Dec. 11,” the statement said. “This is the CDC-recommended length of a quarantine, so hopefully it will prevent any spread of illness after the Thanksgiving holiday.”