School officials frustrated by shifting rules, numbers

October 7, 2020

A SIGN at a Freedom Rally on the corner of 15th Avenue and Main Street Friday evening calls for schools to reopen.

Sweet Home Public Schools is trapped in a tug of war between rising cases of COVID-19 and continually shifting state recommendations for schools re-opening, driven at least partially by the wildfires that ravaged the state in early September.

The coronavirus numbers are looking worse for Linn County and statewide: the week of Sept. 20 to 28 saw 55 new cases in the county, or 43.5 per 100,000. Schools cannot fully reopen until cases are below 10 per 100,000 for three weeks in a row, and the K-3 exception requires case rates below 30.

Although Sweet Home's public schools remain closed, along...

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