Joplin Board of Education Votes On High School Return
The Joplin Board of Education continued to have difficulties this week setting a schedule for students at the Joplin High School. The school, which had been operating on a split schedule since classes began on Aug 24th, could see a long wait before returning to the five-day a week-schedule. The criteria proposed by school district officials failed Tuesday by a 4-3 vote, with board members Lori Musser, Michael Joseph and Debbie Fort supporting them, and Derek Gander, Brent Jordan, Jeff Koch and Dermott opposing them. For JHS to return to class on a daily basis, certain criteria have to bet. Daily positive cases are below 1% of the total building population for 14 consecutive days, the overall district and JHS trend of positive cases is flat or declining during the same 14-day period. Cases in the city of Joplin, as reported by the Joplin Health Department, are in line with yellow or green categories under the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. These categories describe low to moderate risk of Covid-19 transmission in schools. Substitute teacher fill rates are adequate to cover faculty Covid-related absences. Local Covid-related hospital occupancy, reported by the city, is below 40 people. Dermott stated his vote against the legislation was largely due to the split vote the board made.