Jay Curtis

Powell schools will be closed the entire week of Thanksgiving as dozens of students have been quarantined for COVID-19.

“What we’re trying to do is just break that quarantine cycle,” said Jay Curtis, superintendent of Park County School District No. 1; each day, several students are placed in quarantine because of exposure to someone infected with the novel coronavirus, while a few others return to classes, he said.

In talking with public health officials, a strategy other school districts have used is to move to a hybrid model or close school buildings for a short period of time to “sort of break the cycle, get a reset,” the superintendent explained.

Counting the weekends, schools will be closed for a total of nine days over the Thanksgiving holiday, with students getting two more days off than originally planned.

“I think that we can leverage just a couple days of Thanksgiving break — the Monday and Tuesday [Nov. 23-24] — to allow for that reset to occur,” Curtis said. “If we can limp through until we get to that week, then we get a full nine days of separation. The majority of people who are on quarantine, by that time, will likely come back.”

As of Tuesday, there were “probably 60 kids quarantined,” Curtis told the school board. However, “here’s the really good news: We’re not having a lot of our quarantined kids actually testing positive for the virus later on,” he said. “... We have 12 weeks of data, and I cannot cite one case where a kid has been quarantined, and then tested positive for the virus.”

The Park County School District No. 1 Board of Trustees voted 6-1 on Tuesday to revise the calendar for the 2020-21 school year, with no school Monday, Nov. 23 and Tuesday, Nov. 24. Trustee Don Hansen voted against the change.

To make up one of the days, the school year was extended by one day, so the last day is now May 28. For the second day, there will be school on the day after Easter — Monday, April 5. Schools still will be closed on Good Friday (April 2), but the Easter break will be a three-day weekend for students and staff, rather than four days.

“Normally I would not shorten an Easter break — Easter is very important to me personally, and it’s very important to a lot of people in our district,” Curtis said. “But we are coming just one and a half weeks away from a spring break.”

The Christmas break will remain the same (Dec. 23-Jan. 5).

Curtis talked with administrative leaders and Park County Public Health Officer Dr. Aaron Billin about extending the Thanksgiving break, “and everyone seems to think this is a good strategy.”

“We’re just trying to think logically to do what we can to maybe break the cycle a little bit and get the most kids as we possibly can back for the month of December,” Curtis said.

Trustee Hansen voiced concerns over changing the calendar “without letting any of our constituents know what’s happening.”

“I think we need to have some input from our parents and people like that in our community,” he said.

Superintendent Curtis said he sought input from a large number of staff members in the district, but it wasn’t an issue he would necessarily consult with parents over.

“I don’t consult parents when I cancel school for snow; I don’t consult parents when we cancel school for other reasons,” Curtis said. “This is a cancellation due to pandemic reasons, and I think it’s well within our right as a school district to do that.

“And we would not be doing this if we did not think it was in the best interest of the kids at this time,” he added.

People in the community had heard about the potential for a longer Thanksgiving break, said Chairman Greg Borcher, as some residents asked him about the calendar change.

Trustee Kim Dillivan added that it isn’t a change just for change’s sake.

“But this is a change in order to keep students in school, keep people healthy,” Dillivan said.

Trustee Tracy Morris said at the beginning of the pandemic, Superintendent Curtis asked the board to be flexible, “because we have not all been through this before.”

“So I think that flexibility is what you’re asking for,” Morris said.

Curtis agreed, and added that several districts in the area are also considering extending the Thanksgiving break.

“This is likely going to be a change made in most school districts within the Big Horn Basin,” Curtis said.