Overton Schools Seeking Remote Learning Waiver Approval

The Overton County School System has asked for waiver from the state to allow remote learning.

Overton County Director of Schools Donnie Holman said the state has opened short term waivers for remote learning, which would only close specific classes and grades. Holman said the district submitted a waiver this morning because of hot spot schools.

“We’ve got three areas that I think are the hardest hit right now,” Holman said. “That’s of course the high school and Hilham Elementary, and Rickman Elementary. Those are the three schools that have the highest amount of students with cases.”

Holman said the system anticipates hearing from the state about the remote learning waiver shortly.

“It’s not district wide,” Holman said. “They made that point very clear that they didn’t want it to be district wide. My staff and I worked on this all morning just prior to coming here, because this is our focus. This is what we’ve spent the whole morning and much of our time every day dealing with.”

Holman said the system is taking control of contract tracing itself to try and speed up the notification process. Holman said that the number of positive cases in the district has dropped since Friday, going from 161 positives to 140.

“The state health department has asked that we send positive cases with seating charts to the local health department so that they can contact trace,” Holman said. “However, we as a school district have decided to the contact tracing by sending letters home making phone calls in order to inform the parents in a more timely manner.”

Mayor Curtis Hayes asked Holman if there was a magic number for COVID cases that would trigger a district closures. Holman said the number was 15 percent in the past, but does not believe it applies based off the state’s insistence to keep districts open and do remote learning in pockets around the district.