McAlester schools to reopen despite top COVID rate

MCALESTER — In the county with the highest COVID-19 rate in Oklahoma, McAlester Public Schools still plans to have students return in person.

The McAlester Board of Education on Thursday adopted an alternating class schedule that will last only four days. After that, all students will return at the same time on Aug. 31.

McAlester's reopening plan stands out among others in the state. Many school districts that adopted A/ B schedules have done so for the first month of school or longer, such as Midwest City-Del City Public Schools.

Some districts in counties with a far lower per- capita case rate opted to start school virtually, such as Yukon, Tulsa, Putnam City and Oklahoma City Public Schools.

Pittsburg County, where McAlester is located, has a per- capita rate of cases that far exceeds the limit at

which the Oklahoma State Department of Education recommends schools shut down and have students learn from home.

However, the Oklahoma State Board of Education declined to make its COVID- 19 guidelines a requirement.

A lack of statewide mandates puts more pressure on local districts like McAlester to decide school safety protocols, said Julieanne Montgomery, regional director of the Pittsburg County Health Department.

“I think that they're in a difficult position in not having any top cover and having to make decisions about how best to educate children this year,” Montgomery said. “I think they're trying to implement strategies of social distancing and proper hand hygiene so that they can continue to educate children.”

McAlester schools will require masks for all students and staff when they return. The district offers a full-time virtual curriculum as an alternative to in-person schooling.

The high rate of COVID19 in the area is a result of community spread, and it is not restricted to a particular industry or the nearby Oklahoma State Penitentiary, Montgomery said.

Pittsburg County recorded 45.81 cases per 100,000 people last week, according to the Oklahoma State Department of Health's weekly report. The state recommends schools close once a county reaches 25 cases per 100,000.

Instead, McAlester schools will return a day early on Tuesday. The district will organize students alphabetically into two groups that will split inperson classes for the first week of school.

The McAlester school board approved the plan during a virtual meeting conducted over Zoom at 10:30 a.m. Thursday.

Group 1, which is all students whose last names start with A- K, will attend in person Tuesday and Wednesday. Group 2, names starting with L- Z, will come to school Thursday and Friday. All

McAlester students will return together on Aug. 31 for the full school week.

Superintendent Randy Hughes said the district could resume a split schedule later in the school year if necessary, but “that's not our goal. We don't want to do that again.”

“We just feel like this is the safest thing to do these four days, just to go half at a time, get the procedures down, and the kids kind of get an idea of what's going on,” Hughes said during the school board meeting.

Hughes acknowledged Pittsburg County has a higher COVID- 19 rate than any other county in Oklahoma, but said only a few students currently have the virus.

Five McAlester students have active cases of COVID- 19, he said. The district announced Aug. 14 it had discovered positive cases from its high school football program.

Earlier this month, eight students and two employees tested positive, causing the district to delay the first day of school.

The state Health Department reported five more COVID- 19 deaths in Pittsburg County on Wednesday, bringing the county's total to 11 deaths. All 11 people came from McAlester, according to Health Department data.

The county has reported a total of 502 cases, includling 354 in McAlester.

The county's case numbers jumped dramatically this month. On Aug. 6, Pittsburg County had only 17.58 cases per 100,000 people — low enough that state guidelines suggested schools could stay open.

Positive cases skyrocketed the next week to 45.81 per 100,000, according to the state Health Department's county report on Aug. 13.

The McAlester City Council narrowly approved an ordinance requiring masks in public. The ordinance takes effect Sunday.

It will take more time for the mask mandate to put a dent in COVID- 19 numbers, Montgomery said. The local health department is still seeing increases in positive cases across all of Pittsburg County.

“We're hoping that we'll see reduction in numbers,” Montgomery said. “It'll be a while before see an impact in our numbers related to wearing masks.”