Are school buses responsible for the high number of student quarantines at D158?
Huntley Community School District 158 (D158) Superintendent Scott Rowe spoke at the Sep. 16 Board of Education meeting regarding the district’s biggest issue with student quarantines.
“Our quarantines are almost exclusively coming from the bus and the cafeteria where we can’t maintain that three feet of separation on the bus and masks are off for 15 minutes if you’re within six feet. We’ve made adjustments to the elementary level to spread our students out to reduce that at the elementary level but the secondary level is simply not possible to be six feet apart due to the size of our buildings,” said Rowe. “And on the buses, it’s simply not possible to transport our students to school and be more than three feet apart like a classroom setting and have those layered mitigations.”
In an email statement to My Huntley News, D158 Director of Communications and Public Relations Alex LeMoine explained that D158 handles quarantines based on recommendations from the McHenry County Department of Health (MCDH).
“According to the MCDH, all students who are deemed a close contact may return to the bus 14 calendar days after their last exposure to a positive COVID-19 case. If a student tests positive, they must isolate and may return after a minimum of 10 days,” LeMoine said in her statement.
She continued, “At the beginning of the year, due to high rates of transmission in the county, the McHenry County Department of Health advised a 14-day quarantine for nearly all students deemed a close contact on the bus or in the classroom. Due to recently updated guidance from the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) and our access to resources through the SHEILD program, we are now able to implement the Test-to-Stay strategy for students who are close contacts on the bus if mitigations are being correctly adhered to (i.e., mask-wearing, open windows for increased ventilation).”
LeMoine states that the district is grateful to have access to the resources to provide students with the “Test-to-Stay” option as other school districts “are experiencing severely limited resources and manpower from the University of Illinois SHIELD program.”
“As of last week, every campus in Huntley 158 is equipped with a Test-to-Stay station where students and staff can perform testing in-district to limit quarantines. Weekly testing is also available for all students and staff,” said LeMoine.
LeMoine told My Huntley News that D158 has not seen a significant or persistent decline in their ridership on school buses.
She stated that the district is “encouraged to continue to provide bus services to every student who requires transportation. Huntley 158 will continue to work with MCDH and follow guidance from our public health experts to ensure the safety of our students and staff.”
MCDH states in their P-12 Interim School Guidance that while the county is at the high level of COVID-19 transmissions, students are not allowed to use the Test-to-Stay option to ride the school bus for at least 14 calendar days after the close contact’s last exposure to the COVID-19 case.
