COVID-19News Joplin MOTrending
Diamond High School going virtual
For the next seven school days, Diamond High School students will be doing their learning virtually due to an increase in COVID-19 cases. Read the full press release from Superintendent Dr. Keith White below:
We currently have confirmed 7 student cases (six students at Diamond High School and one student at Diamond Middle School) and one High School teacher case of COVID-19 in our district that have been reported. Individuals who were in close contact with the seven students and teacher who tested positive have been notified to quarantine for 14 days. The district is taking all precautions consistent with the Newton County Health Department requirements and recommendations and they are also monitoring all of our quarantined students.
Due to the amount of students who have had to be quarantined (62 students at Diamond High School) due to contact tracing we are moving to Phase 4 (no students in-person and all HS students work virtually from home AMI-X) with only our High School students starting Tuesday, September 15 through Wednesday, September 23rd. During this Phase 4 closure, we are canceling all high school practices and re-scheduling as many of the planned activities as possible to later dates. Our Crowder students will also work virtually during this time and their Crowder teachers will contact them.
Due to privacy requirements, we cannot release the names of the students and teacher or details that may identify them. We are continuing to monitor this situation and will provide additional information as needed. We have created a Diamond R-IV COVID-19 Dashboard that will be updated regularly at the following link at
All Diamond R-IV students and staff need to bring their face masks to school and mask up if they are on the move at any point during the day or cannot stay socially distanced (6 feet away from everyone). We ask parents to continue to monitor your child for symptoms daily and keep your child home if they show any of the following symptoms:
● Fever of 100.4 or chills
● Cough
● Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing
● Fatigue
● Muscle or body aches
● Headache
● New loss of taste or smell
● Sore throat
● Congestion or runny nose
● Nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea
Information about monitoring for symptoms and the rest of our Re-entry and Reopening Guidelines can be found on the COVID tab on our website at https://www.diamondwildcats.org/vnews/display.v/SEC/COVID
Principal Chris Mettlach says that “if you have spotty internet, we recently got a WiFi hub installed in the gravel lot across from the middle school (by the old duplex buildings). If you need internet access please make use of it. We ask that you remain in your vehicles if you decide to use it. If you don’t have internet then please contact your teachers or the office and we will make paper packets available for you.
We will also be offering free meal service during this time, if you need food the kitchen will be providing breakfast, lunch , and dinner via drive thru pickup by the north doors every day at 10 am beginning on Sept. 16th. You received an email with a google form to fill out for this service.”