By Robert Medley
Managing Editor
Students in Okarche Public School who may have been in contact with anyone who is positive for COVID-19 now have the option to stay home for virtual learning, said Superintendent Josh Sumrall.
On Tuesday, Jan. 11, Okarche Elementary had 25 students absent, and three students are positive for COVID-19 while the rest have flu or other illnesses, Sumrall said.
In the seventh through 12th grades, on Tuesday there were 27 students absent and 10 of those students were positive for COVID-19.
The district has a virtual learning plan, but officials hope not to have to use it for everyone, Sumrall said.
“We’re monitoring this. There is about 15% right now of our population absent. I realize right now it, COVID-19, is kind of taking off everywhere,” Sumrall said.
The number of absences is highest this week since the pandemic started in March 2020.
“This is the most we have had out in the two years since it has been around,” Sumrall said.
He said when he was at Coyle Schools before the pandemic there were times school was shut down due to flu cases when up to 30% of students were out.
Lomega Public Schools in Kingfisher County, located west of Kingfisher, shut down for the week due to various absences, some being COVID-19 and others flu.
“As far as shutting school down we are not going to do that yet, we are going to continue to monitor it on a daily basis, kind of hourly here at the school,” Sumrall said.
There are students who do not have symptoms but who have tested positive as well, he said.
“I’ve had a few calls from parents who are up in the air about what to do. If a student has been in contact they can go virtual for 7 to 10 days and monitor symptoms at home,” Sumrall said.
“This is going on two years almost now, it (COVID-19) is kind of going all over the place and you don’t know how it will go.”
There are 398 enrolled students in the entire district in Okarche this spring, Sumrall said.
Meanwhile, at Holy Trinity Catholic School in Okarche, power outages, lack of staff and illnesses have affected classes.
Last week the second grade and fifth grades were quarantined, said Principal Alice Newman.
“As of now, (Tuesday) I only know of one student who has been reported as quarantined because of COVID. We’ve been very lucky so far, but we do have a virtual backup plan. Our goal is to stay in school, of course.”
Due to a power outage, classes did not start until 9:30 a.m. Tuesday.
Parents in Okarche have been able to get tests through their own doctors and other places, the Okarche district does not offer a testing clinic, Sumrall said.
If absences add up for students, administrators can excuse absences due to circumstances and the pandemic. If students are at home out of class, and they attend classes virtually, they are not counted as absent, however.
Meanwhile, plans are coming together for a future band room for the district as well as new ball fields for baseball and softball. An update was given at the Monday night, Jan. 10 Okarche School Board meeting.
Bids will open bids for the band room on Feb. 3.
Plans are to open bids for the ball fields by the end of the week at the earliest and by the end of January at the latest, Sumrall said. The projects will not raise taxes in the district.
Architects in Partnership of Norman, and construction manager Brandon Box of Rick Scott Construction of Ponca City are working on both projects. The ballpark figure for the two fields, would be about $2.7 million.
A band room project will cost about $900,000, and the work will also take about a year to renovate the old cafeteria for the original Okarche Elementary School for the future room. The band room will be about 2,000 square feet in space.
