I am very pleased to report that COVID-19 cases among students and staff have decreased. Effective immediately, we will discontinue mandatory quarantines for close contact exposures at all high schools in Catoosa County.

If your child is a close contact, parents/guardians will receive a phone call from the school; however, your child will not need to be quarantined if exposed at school, as long as the child remains asymptomatic.

We will discontinue mandatory quarantines in elementary and middle schools on December 22nd, since students in this age group who want the vaccine will have the opportunity to be fully vaccinated by that date.

Parents may choose for their child to quarantine for 7 or 10 days due to a positive case in the classroom. Self-quarantines will be excused absences; however, students will be expected to complete missed assignments.

If you choose to quarantine your child after exposure, quarantine options will be as follows:

10-day quarantine period: Students may return to school after the 10-day quarantine period provided they remain asymptomatic and do not test positive for COVID-19.

7-day quarantine period: Students may return to school after 7 days provided they remain asymptomatic AND have a negative COVID-19 test collected on the 5th day after exposure or later.

The safety of our students and staff is our number one priority. The district will continue to track positive COVID cases, and a weekly report will be posted on the district’s website on Friday. If we see a rise in positive COVID-19 cases, guidelines will be revisited and adjustments may be implemented as necessary to mitigate the spread in a school or in the system. Please feel free to contact your child’s principal if you have any questions.