Kelly Kenoyer
The Sweet Home School District notified parents and staff Friday, Nov. 20, that two staff members had tested positive for COVID-19 at Oak Heights Elementary.
“The staff members who tested positive do not work with our limited in-person program and have had no contact with students,” Supt. Tom Yahraes wrote. The district conducted contact tracing, and those exposed were asked to stay home for 14 days and follow quarantine protocols. The entire school was cleaned and sanitized.
Linn County Health and the Oregon Health Authority did not recommend or require a school shutdown, as “the second case was a close contact of the first case and was already in quarantine.”
The names of the affected staff members have not been released, and won’t be, the message said. Yahraes told The New Era that the county has determined that the point of contagion likely did not occur at the building, and there were two confirmed exposures.
“The best way to prevent the spread of COVID-19 is through staying home when ill, wearing face coverings, physical distancing, and practicing good health hygiene habits. Be sure to wash your hands frequently with soap and water, cover your coughs and sneezes, and avoid contact with people who have signs of illness.”
This is not the first known incidence of COVID in the district. The high school’s spring sports “mini season” was abruptly canceled Oct. 22 after an athlete developed a “presumptive case” of COVID and a Sweet Home Junior High School staffer was reportedly diagnosed with the coronavirus.
Yahraes has previously squared off with the teacher’s union for his requirement that teachers and support staff work in their classrooms inside district buildings, rather than working from home. Previously, the superintendent has said “quality distance learning” is “not best delivered from teachers’ homes.”
He stands by that decision now, as a way to allow a “more achievable pathway to in-person learning.”
At the time of the dispute in early September, Union President Elizabeth Hunt stated that having people in a building together and touching physical surfaces creates a higher chance for spread of the disease.
She had asked the district to allow teachers to work from home if they preferred to.
The Sweet Home Education Association filed a tort claim against the district on Sept. 1 related to the requirement that members return to active employment in school district buildings.
“By failing to observe these precautions, the district is intentionally exposing its employees to Covid 19,” the tort claim read.
The district responded that its requirements for in-person work do fall within the state and federal laws and requirements related to on-site and distance learning.
“If we want to successfully navigate this COVID-19 year, we must work together to create a culture of safety,” the response letter from Yahraes said.
The tort claim was dropped in another letter on Oct. 2, and the letter said SHEA “would prefer to continue our school year and bargaining that we would be conducting in the coming months without the tort claim.”
In response to questions from The New Era about this outbreak and the concerns raised in the tort claim, Yahraes said, “for the most part, schools have not been found to be the source of COVID-19 spread, rather health authorities see individual’s social environments being a primary source of COVID-19 spread.
Because schools follow strict health and safety protocols and work closely with local and state health authorities, we can swiftly mitigate the spread when COVID is detected.”
He added that OHA called Oak Heights cases “a good example of contact tracing and quarantine working very well.”
Yahraes indicated he intends to keep teachers in schools for the time being, though he said that could change if protocols change tomorrow.
“Until we get to the vaccine, we need to continue to work together as a community following the health and safety protocols in order to stop the spread of COVID-19 and get our students back in school.
“Schools cannot single-handedly bring down the county case counts, it takes all of us in our community and county to do this.”
He added: “Let’s continue to dig in and work together and: social distance, wear masks, wash hands, and stay home if you feel sick.”