Staff at Hilton Head Island High School exposed to COVID ahead of winter break
Six staff members at Hilton Head Island High School are quarantining after two other staffers tested positive for COVID-19, according to internal school emails.
The staff members tested positive for COVID-19 over the weekend, but no students were identified as close contacts, according to a Monday email from principal Steve Schidrich.
“Please do not discuss this with your students or talk to colleagues in the presence of students,” Schidrich wrote.
“I am notifying the parents of the students in the positive teacher’s classes about the case and reassure them that none of their students is a close contact because of the proximity of student desks.”
The S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control defines a close contact as someone who has been within six feet of an infected individual for at least 15 minutes.
Schidrich did not identify the staff members in the email due to “privacy concerns.” He said Thursday that he asked staff not to discuss the cases due to federal student and health privacy laws and to prevent gossip.
“We just don’t want to spread rumors,” he said. “When people overhear something, they don’t know the facts if they’re just walking by.”
Four of the six staff members quarantining are the school’s guidance counselors, who are working remotely for the time being, Schidrich said. On Wednesday and Thursday night, they hosted a Zoom meeting for incoming ninth graders.
“Even when teachers are quarantined, they’re working from home,” he said. “We’re able to accommodate them where the students are supervised by another adult as they teach over Zoom.”
District spokeswoman Candace Bruder said Thursday that three Hilton Head Island High students are also quarantining “due to exposure outside the school environment.”
As of Wednesday evening, Beaufort County School District has reported 193 COVID-19 cases among staff and students since Sept. 28.
Hilton Head Island High School has the highest number of COVID-19 cases of any school in the district, with 30 reported since Sept. 28. Four were reported last week, but none have been reported this week.
Hilton Head is closely followed by May River High with 28 cases, and Bluffton High with 23 cases in the same timeframe.
Schidrich said Thursday that his school “came out of the gates quickly and then leveled off” on COVID-19 cases, seven of which were reported prior to the Oct. 5 start of any in-person classes.
“We’ve got to do better out in the community, we’ve got to do better at home and with the parties and things like that,” he said. “The education has been positive, and the rate is going down.”
The school is following district protocols on social distancing, temperature checks, mask wearing, bathroom usage and class changes. Currently, every classroom has at least six feet of space between desks, though that will change when students return to full-time, in-person instruction after winter break.
When possible, larger classes will be moved to bigger rooms like the theater or media center, Schidrich said; all students will have barriers at their desks and seating charts to help the school identify close contacts if someone tests positive.
“To say that every classroom is going to be six feet apart isn’t realistic, but it’ll be close,” Schidrich said.
This story was originally published December 17, 2020 at 3:48 PM.