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Increase in number of COVID-19 cases in Monroe County School District

Monroe County School District has 9 new COVID-19 cases this week

MONROE COUNTY, Ga. — Monroe County Schools released a weekly report saying they've found nine COVID-19 cases this week in four different schools. Over 50 students are now quarantined due to possible exposure. Parents are giving their thoughts about how they're feeling about the way the school has handled things thus far.

The district also said that 12 staff members tested positive, and 7 are in quarantine. 

Since Tuesday 4 students were diagnosed with COVID-19 at Monroe County Middle School, three students at Mary Persons High School, one student at T.G Scott Elementary, and one student and staff member at K.B Sutton Elementary.

Shelley Price is a mother of a seventh-grader who attends Monroe County Middle School online. She says that she thought about sending her son back to school in January but changed her mind because the schools numbers were increasing.

"If there were maybe a few modifications in the school like having less kids in the school at one time, then maybe, but the numbers have just been going up, kids is a lot in such a short period of time," Price said.

Price says she appreciates the district's transparency with their numbers, and she believes they're doing the right thing by having students quarantine.

"We get the information directly from the school which is always a much better and efficient way of communicating it instead of word of mouth," Price said.

"The school system is following the CDC guidelines that the governor has been supporting and parents have a lot of frustrations, but the school is trying to go by the letter of the law," a school board member said. 

Stuart Pippin is a parent of an elementary school student in the Monroe County School District, and he is also on the school board. 

He says the school district is doing the best that they can with handling the situation and that he understands parents frustrations.

"You know, I feel for them," Pippin said.

Superintendent Mike Hickman said in a statement that he isn't happy with the trend of increasing cases and that they will continue to monitor the situation. 

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