Three schools in Lamar County have temporarily switched to virtual learning due to COVID-19 outbreaks just a week after classes started. Oak Grove High School, Oak Grove Middle School and Purvis High School announced that online courses began this week and will run through Aug. 13. School officials plan to resume in-person classes on Monday, Aug. 16.
In the first week of classes, the school district identified six positive COVID cases among faculty and staff and 41 cases among students at Oak Grove schools, which resulted in 100 people in quarantine. In Purvis, 17 people are under quarantine after the school identified four positive cases.
While attending virtual classes, students are required to log into their classes at their regularly scheduled times and submit assignments through Google Classroom. Administrators encourage parents to contact the school of their children's teachers with any questions.
An email from Oak Grove High School and Middle School said, "With this break in face-to-face instruction, we are hopeful this will stop the spread."
Lamar County also instituted a temporary policy requiring masks to be worn at all times while indoors, including on buses. The school district recommended masks at the start of the school year, but they were not required. The new policy is tentatively set to expire when students return to the classrooms on Aug. 16.
"We will reevaluate these requirements on a weekly basis," reads an announcement from the Lamar County school district. "The decision to continue wearing face coverings will be based on the number of positive COVID-19 cases in our schools."
At least one local advocacy organization, Students Lives Matter, is already lobbying for the current policy requiring masks to become permanent. They are circulating an online petition among parents, students and community members.
Lamar County ended their announcement with, "Thank you for helping us to continue providing face-to-face instruction as long as we possibly can while we navigate through this pandemic. This guidance is subject to change based on MSDH/CDC guidance and the Governor's Executive orders."
