Madison Schools Reopen

media release: On Thursday, Madison Metropolitan School District (MMSD) announced it will be returning to in-person learning, at all grade levels, Monday, January 10, after a week-long delay in returning from winter-break.   

Wednesday night, the MMSD Board of Education held a special meeting with district leadership to discuss plans moving forward, with many families, staff, and medical advisors sharing their unique perspectives and recommendations during the meeting. The decision comes after a week of diligent and collaborative work, including the ongoing review of local health metrics and trends, and receiving guidance from district medical advisors relative to ensuring safety and sustainability in the district's return. 

“We recognize this week has affected our scholars, families, and staff in many ways,” said Superintendent, Dr. Carlton D. Jenkins. “ We appreciate our school community's patience and understanding. Although we prefer our scholars to be connecting in-person with teachers and staff while learning in our classrooms, this necessary pause strengthened our ability to sustain remaining open safely.”   

The pause in returning to in-person was in response to a significant increase in local cases of COVID-19, fueled by the new Omicron variant.  The spike in positive cases had a significant impact on MMSD staffing levels at many schools and severely limited the availability of testing resources and personnel protective equipment.  During the pause the district’s work included:

Meeting and collaborating with our local medical advisory team;

Planning, staffing, and hosting several vaccine and booster clinics as well as COVID-19 testing sites;

Acquiring a sustainable supply of PPE, rapid antigen tests, and PCR tests;

Modifying its contact tracing strategy due to significant anticipated increases in cases, while utilizing available staff;

Planning around staff shortages

Refining social-emotional learning lessons for families who request extra support.

As an additional layer of safety, the district strongly encouraged students to be tested for COVID-19 prior to their return on Monday. The district also encouraged students displaying symptoms or having been in close contact with someone who has tested positive for COVID-19, to visit one of several district sponsored testing sites.  Other recommendations to students and families included:

Reviewing district safety mitigation strategies with students prior to their return;  

Encouraging support to school staff members who are supporting safety protocol adherence;

Encouraging proper masking and hand washing;

Ensuring students stays home, and get tested, when sick or showing symptoms;

Completing COVID-19 screeners and following screener guidance;

Adhering to physical distancing of three feet for students (six feet when eating) when possible;

Strongly encouraging students to receive COVID-19 vaccinations or boosters.

Considering our nation is still very much in the midst of the pandemic, the district highlighted how staffing levels as a result of the spread of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 and possible future variants remains as a considerable concern. Therefore, it is plausible for the community to expect, at some point in the future, a school or a classroom to briefly close, based on staffing levels in a particular building.