Southern Indiana schools dealing with more COVID-19 cases as other districts prepare to open

CHARLESTOWN, Ind. (WDRB) -- Two weeks after classes resumed, Greater Clark County Schools confirmed three more COVID-19 cases Monday.

The district notified staff and parents at Charlestown Middle School, Jeffersonville High School and Pleasant Ridge Elementary.

"We came over to get the homework assignment for our grandson, who is quarantined, because the teacher tested positive," James Darnall said outside Pleasant Ridge Elementary school Monday. "In-person may be more preferable, but online may be more practical."

Darnall's 5-year-old grandson attends kindergarten at Pleasant Ridge which is already closed to in-person learning for the week due to the number of staff members in quarantine.

GCCS was the first sizable southern Indiana school system to test in-person instruction when students returned to class on July 24. During the first nine school days, seven campuses reported confirmed COVID-19 cases:

Parkwood Elementary
Thomas Jefferson Elementary
Pleasant Ridge Elementary
Charlestown Middle School
Charlestown High School
Jeffersonville High School
New Washington High School

Last week, WDRB News spoke with students at TJ Elementary about what it's like to be back in school, during a pandemic, wearing masks all day. The kids said the masks are "annoying" and distracting and spoke about needing to have "zombie arms" to make sure no one gets closer than 6 feet to each other.

Days after our interview, an entire class at the school was in quarantine.

Despite prevention efforts taking place on school campuses with cleaning, disinfecting and spacing, COVID-19 cases in schools are rising statewide. Now, pressure is mounting in Indiana to build an online dashboard for parents to see how many people tested positive in their school community.

"That's really a question for the health department on how they're going to handle that," Indiana School Superintendent Jennifer McCormick said. "We're getting a lot of calls."

More districts in Indiana head back to class this week, including neighboring schools in New Albany-Floyd County Schools.

Parents had a choice to send their children to school virtually or in-person. Elementary students will attend daily with one set of classmates inside a socially distanced classroom, while the district's older students will follow an A/B schedule.

Up to Labor Day, students in grades 7-12 whose last names start with A-K will attend Monday/Wednesday, while those whose last names start with L-Z will attend Tuesday/Thursday. On Fridays, everyone will do virtual learning.

"We've got a plan for getting every classroom every night with biocidal cleaners," said Bill Wisehart, who oversees the district's facilities. "High-touch areas we'll be hitting multiple times through the day."

The deadline to switch from in-person to online instruction for GCCS was Friday. District representatives said they did not know how many people changed to virtual learning. At the start of the year, Superintendent Mark Laughner said about 68% of the 11,000 students opted to come back to class.

WDRB News reached out to every member of the GCCS board Monday and the superintendent's office to ask if the district would be considering moving everyone to online instruction in light of the new COVID-19 cases but have not yet received a response.

Darnall said his grandson is already ready to go back to school.

"I think the children will do better in-person, but we have to do what makes the most sense," he said.