Ponca City Public Schools has released a COVID-19 update for Monday, January 18. In the update, PCPS says they appreciate the in-person instructional time they had last week. However, as expected, there were many close contact quarantines at Po-Hi and several elementary classrooms transitioned to Distance Learning. Po-Hi will remain on Distance Learning due to a high number of staff affected by COVID-19 and will return to in-person learning on Monday, January 25. Several elementary classrooms are scheduled to return to in-person learning on Monday and Tuesday of this week. Teachers will keep parents informed. The chart and information that are posted below explain the district’s COVID data from last week.
- 1/11 – Due to 8 weekend contact tracing investigations and several on Monday, January 11, PCPS had a great deal of students affected. One elementary classroom at Garfield, Trout, Washington PreK and two elementary classrooms at Woodlands Elementary transitioned to Distance Learning for 10 days due to an in-school positive. There were 12 weekend and Monday close contact investigations at Po-Hi involving two varsity activities.
- 1/12 – One Po-Hi contact tracing investigation resulted in several close contact quarantines for 10 days.
- 1/13 – No in-school contact tracing; numbers reflect family isolations and close contacts not affecting school.
- 1/14 – One East Middle School contact tracing investigation resulted in several close contact quarantines for 10 days and one elementary classroom at Washington PreK resulted in a classroom transitioning to Distance Learning for 10 days.
- 1/15 – No in-school contact tracing; numbers reflect family isolations and close contacts not affecting school.
There were two weekend close contact investigations for PCPS that involved no activities. With vaccinations in progress, PCPS is hopeful to gradually move to more normalcy and fewer interruptions.
The goal for PCPS is to have as many in-person contact days as possible. However, PCPS fully expects for individual sites to transition to Distance Learning at some point. Please help PCPS achieve as many days as possible of in-person instruction during these difficult times practicing protocols during non-school hours. However, if a site experiences a high number of students and staff isolations/quarantines, or if they cannot staff a building to ensure safety and supervision, PCPS will transition to a site/sites to Distance Learning for a 10 day period. Be prepared with plans of Distance Learning for your child if the situation warrants. Keep up-to-date with local site %s on the PCPS Contact Tracing Spreadsheet by going to www.pcps.us.
PCPS will continue to follow all OSDH protocols very strictly to ensure the safety of their students and staff including following OSDH guidelines for isolations and quarantines.
