GREELEY, Colo. — The bell still rings at Jackson Elementary School in Greeley, but there's no students around to hear it. The playgrounds are empty and so are the classrooms after a presumptive positive case and confirmed case of COVID-19.
"We just made the decision to go ahead and close the school for 14 days, said Chief of Communications for Greeley-Evans Weld County School District 6 Theresa Myers. "Let everybody quarantine at home, switch to remote learning immediately and keep our kids on track."
On Thursday, parents received a letter outlining a presumptive positive case of COVID-19 in third grade. Sunday night, they received another letter about a confirmed positive test in fourth grade. In-person learning started less than two weeks ago. A total of 40 kids and three adults are believed to have been in contact with at least one of those suspected with COVID-19.
"In this case, this is on the brink of being considered an outbreak by the health department," Myers said. "Knowing the information, having that information in hand and knowing there were other presumptive positives in the school, it was actually a fairly easy decision."
Myers may have said it's an easy decision, but it is also a significant one. Seventy percent of the Greeley-Evans school district is considered low income.
"So, we know that the poverty in our community creates a situation that's very hard for our students and our families to accommodate remote learning," Myers said. "We're really working hard to keep our schools open as long as possible."
While the school is shut down, the building will be sanitized and disinfected to prepare for the playground and classrooms to be full once more. Myers said the district will keep close tabs on students and staff to see if anyone else tests positive for COVID-19.
"With the 14-day quarantine and with everybody being off-site, we should be able to reopen again on September 14," Myers said.
Jackson Elementary School is the second school in Weld County to be shut down for COVID-19. Fort Lupton High School quarantined all of its students during the first few days of in-person learning two weeks ago.
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