Mitchell Community Schools

Our attendance numbers have remained at a sustainable level over the course of the last few weeks. Due to these numbers, and after consulting with local and county health officials, MCS will be lifting the mask mandate for students and staff on Monday, November 1st. We will continue to monitor our attendance numbers and, when necessary, implement policies and procedures that will be directed toward the health and safety of our students and staff. As a reminder, the federal mask mandate for bus riders is still in effect through January. Thank you for your continued patience and support of your school district.

Our attendance numbers have remained at a sustainable level over the course of the last few weeks. Due to these numbers, and after consulting with local and county health officials, MCS will be lifting the mask mandate for students and staff on Monday, November 1st. We will continue to monitor our attendance numbers and, when necessary, implement policies and procedures that will be directed toward the health and safety of our students and staff. As a reminder, the federal mask mandate for bus riders is still in effect through January. Thank you for your continued patience and support of your school district.

As we continue to monitor the effects of the ongoing COVID pandemic in regard to school attendance for both students and staff, we are seeing our attendance rates leveling off to more acceptable percentages. If this trend continues through the next week, we will be lifting the mask mandate beginning Monday, November 1st, but still highly recommending masks. We will continue to follow the federal mandate of masks on busses through at least January 18th. Our attendance rates continue to updated daily on our school website under COVID data dashboard and we continue to stay in consistent communication with officials from the Lawrence County Health Department. Since the beginning of the pandemic, we will continue to monitor its effects on our students and staff and will alter our plan when necessary. For example, if our attendance rates beginning to trend negatively due to absences caused by COVID, we would look at reinstating the mask mandate if necessary. I would also like to remind all of our families that Monday, November 22nd and Tuesday, November 23rd will be scheduled eLearning days for all MCS students. Thanks to all for their continued support of your school corporation and have a great rest of your weekend.

MHS Volleyball - 2021 Sectional Champs - #GoJackets 🐝🏐💙💛

Wishing all of our MCS students, staff, and families a great Fall Break next week.

To nominate a Bluejacket for the MHS Alumni Hall of Fame please visit https://www.mitchell.k12.in.us/page/forms-links

Visit the Mitchell Public Library for some Fall Break Fun! 🍂🍁🐝💙💛

Join Our Team! 🐝🐝🐝 https://www.mitchell.k12.in.us/page/employment

Good luck, Anna! 🐝⛳️🏌️‍♀️🐝

Join Our Team! 🐝 https://www.mitchell.k12.in.us/page/employment

Help us find alumni that you think deserve a spot in the Mitchell High School Alumni Hall of Fame! Linked below is a form that anyone can fill out to nominate any Mitchell High School Alumni to be inducted into the Alumni Hall of Fame. Email all nominations to comerb@mitchell.k12.in.us Or Mail a hard copy to Dr. Comer at 441 North 8th St Mitchell, IN https://www.mitchell.k12.in.us/o/mhs/article/535553

The MCS app is LIVE! For all things Mitchell Community Schools in your pocket download our app! Iphone - https://apps.apple.com/us/app/mitchell-bluejackets/id1583287478 Android - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.apptegy.mitchellschools

Yesterday, Governor Holcomb issued a new executive order Executive Order 21-24. This order contains directives specific to public school corporations. This order takes effect September 2, 2021 and remains in effect through September 30, 2021. MCS was already adhering to the majority of the points described in the executive order. Our current mask/face covering mandate and quarantine protocols fall in line with these new orders. We continue to monitor the effects of COVID-19 on our school district and we greatly appreciate the assistance of all of our families. Please remember that our plans are fluid and will adjust when necessary. As a reminder, the MCS COVID-19 Data Dashboard is updated daily with attendance, quarantine, and positivity rates of the school corporation and can be found on the MCS website.

The following is additional information regarding the upcoming mask mandate for all individuals inside of Mitchell Community School Buildings which will begin on Monday, August 30th. Please make special note of the revision to our policy in regard to outdoor athletic or extracurricular events. • OUTDOOR EVENTS: We recommend the use of masks and the practice of social distances at these events. At this time, masks are not required. When seated, we do ask that members of the same household attempt to sit together in a group when possible. • IDOOR EVENTS: Masks can be removed once a spectator is seated. We do ask that social distancing be followed and attempt to sit with household members when possible. The following is intended to provide a degree of clarity in regard to the wearing of masks when in the school buildings. • Masks are to be worn during times when appropriate social distancing cannot be maintained. This will primarily be during times of hallway congestion, busses, and classrooms where safe distancing is not possible. • Clear barriers have been purchased to be used in our Hatfield Elementary classrooms where seating is arranged by tables. This will enable students in these classrooms to remove their masks if they choose when seated. • Students will not be required to wear masks during recess or lunch periods. MCS COVID-19 Data Dashboard can now be found on our school corporation website. We will make every effort to provide daily updates on school attendance and updates on numbers in quarantine and the amount of positive COVID-19 cases. If interested visit: https://www.mitchell.k12.in.us/article/521063

Mitchell Community Schools would love for you to join our team! See image for current jobs and email Jessica Jones, Asst. Superintendent with questions or interest. jonesjl@mitchell.k12.in.us 🐝🐝🐝

Good afternoon MCS families, Unfortunately, this evening I am conveying news to you that none of us wanted to hear. Our internal data now shows that we must do some things differently and this fact is reinforced with Lawrence County now being “RED” and advice from our county health department. Our hope is that these following changes are temporary and it will assist us in bringing illnesses and absenteeism back under control. All of these changes are geared toward keeping our students in school with in-person instruction. Our most current data is showing us that we must employ some mitigation procedures to avoid a completely virtual or hybrid environment. We currently have 227 students and staff in quarantine, with 37 of these testing positive for COVID. Those in quarantine and those students and staff absent due to other illnesses have raised our absentee rate to a very alarming number. We must take action to help reduce this rate. Starting on Monday, August 30th MCS will reinstitute the following procedures. * All people inside Mitchell Community School Buildings who cannot maintain at least 6' of social distance will be required to wear a mask or a face covering. * Any siblings or household members of symptomatic people will be required to quarantine at home until the results of any COVID tests are known, an alternative diagnosis is given, or symptoms have improved at day 10. * Any household members of people who are awaiting a COVID test must also quarantine at home until the results of those COVID tests are known as well. * Masks are required at outdoor athletic, co-curricular, and extra-curricular events unless a person is sitting with members of his or her household and he or she is able to maintain a social distance of 6' from any other group(s) of people not residing in the same household. MCS will continue to monitor the data daily and provide updates during the next few weeks. Once we believe we have reached, and maintain, drastically reduced quarantine and absentee rates we will lift the mask mandate or move to a less restrictive plan. Please know that this decision has not been taken lightly and we have attempted many other strategies to try to curb these alarming absentee rates among our students and staff. Simply put, these strategies are no longer effective. It is going to take all of us working together to keep our children in in-person learning and return to a more normal environment for our students and staff. – Dr. Comer

Good afternoon. I wanted to update all of you on the current status of COVID’S impact on our school community. Each of our buildings has an absence rate of over 17% at this time due to illness, with a corporation average of 20%. Many of our absent students are due to being in quarantine protocol with many additional students staying home due to not feeling well. I greatly appreciate these families for keeping their children home from school and doing their part in not spreading any illness among other MCS students and staff. It is also key to mention that the number of MCS faculty and staff absenteeism, due to illness, continues to grow and it is becoming increasingly difficult to cover classrooms and duties. For example, we had seven unfilled staff positions just today. After another round of test results have been reported today, we currently have 193 students and/or staff in quarantine protocol with 30 of these being COVID positive. In an effort of transparency, if our data continues to trend in this direction I will be issuing revised policies and procedures in the very near future. Please keep in mind that all of these difficult decisions will be made in an effort to prevent extended periods of remote learning. I also wanted to remind everyone again of the free COVID-19 vaccine clinic at the MHS auditorium tomorrow, Wednesday, August 25th. Any MCS student or staff member over the age of 12 is eligible to participate. Letters were sent home with junior high and high school students. If a form is needed please contact the junior high or high school main office. - Dr. Comer

I wanted to take a few moments to update everyone on the effects your school district is seeing in our data in regard to COVID-19. After the weekend, we are holding relatively steady in regard to students and/or staff that have either tested positive for COVID or are in quarantine protocol. We have less than 10 percent of our total school population in quarantine protocol at this time. Of this less than 10 percent, roughly 3/4 are quarantined as a result of a household member testing positive or is awaiting a test result. Our data is not showing the virus being widespread within our schools at this time. As we continue to monitor our attendance data, I do want to make you aware of the possibility of our policies and procedures being forced to modify. To help assist us in this effort, if your child is showing any symptoms of illness, please do keep them home from school. I can’t thank all of you enough for doing your part in keeping MCS a healthy and safe learning environment. If the data forces us to change policies and procedures, these changes will be communicated to all of you. I also wanted to inform you of a free COVID-19 vaccine clinic at MHS auditorium this Wednesday, August 25th. Any MCS student or staff member over the age of 12 is eligible to participate. Letters were sent home with junior high and high school students. If a form is needed please contact the junior high or high school main office. -Dr. Comer

The state of Indiana is providing a pop-up clinic on Saturday, 8/21 for BOTH COVID testing and vaccines. The pop-up clinic will be at Bedford First Assembly Church on 27th St. from 12 noon - 8pm. They will do both rapid and PCR testing. They will also be giving Pfizer and J & J vaccines for anyone age 12 and up. No appointment needed.

I wanted to take a few moments of your time to share information that is intended to dispel any possible rumors and to help ease any anxiety. Since the beginning of the school year, MCS has received reports of 20 students and staff, out of a possible 1,780, who have received positive COVID-19 test results. Of the 20, 8 have completed their quarantine protocol and have returned to school. The schools have conducted contact tracing when necessary and those families have been informed. We do have a number of students who are in quarantine protocol, but the vast majority of those students are home because either someone in the household has tested positive or is awaiting a test result. We also have students who are home due to exhibiting symptoms of COVID-19 as a precaution. I can’t thank both of those sets of families enough for communicating with the schools and for keeping their children home when they don’t feel well or if someone in the household is waiting on test results. I encourage everyone to please follow the example of these families. We continue to use our data to make adjustments when necessary. Some of these adjustments have been building specific and relate to our daily procedures of our students and staff. We continue to recommend the use of masks or face coverings, but are not mandated at this time. If you feel more comfortable if your child would wear a mask, please do so. I understand that this is a stressful time, but I assure all that MCS is closely monitoring the health and safety of all of our students and staff and communicating with the Lawrence County Health Department. If our policies and procedures are forced to change MCS will make the necessary notifications to our families. – Dr. Comer