Iredell-Statesville Schools superintendent says staff behavior key to preventing COVID

IREDELL COUNTY, N.C. — The Iredell-Statesville Schools superintendent is sharing more the steps they’ve taken to keep kids in school while keeping COVID-19 spread low.

ISS has done in-person learning since August. Right now, K-5 students are in plan A and students in grade 6-12 go at least two days a week depending on the school’s capacity.

Superintendent Dr. Jeff James said on top of standard COVID safety protocols including masks and distancing, the district participated in the ABC science collaborative.

It was one of 11 districts across the state that sent data to researchers. The study determined transmission was lower at school than in the community and provided safety guidelines districts could use to reopen safely. James said a huge part of their strategy centers on staff.

The district asked all employees to commit to a pledge, promising to be cautious outside of work. They also allowed at-risk teachers to remain virtual.

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So far, they’ve had 60 people contract COVID-19 from coming to school, that’s less than 1 percent.

ISS is also the second largest employer in the county and workers have to be mindful of the potential impact on schools and the community.

“I think as an educator, you got to look at the event and say ‘Well, how many people are going to be there? Are there going to be masks because you can carry that back into your building,’” said James.

The district hasn’t had to close entire buildings but at one point all 7th grade students and staff at one middle were out of school and doing remote-only instruction due to an exposure.

Iredell-Statesville Schools bring elementary students back full time for in-person learning

James said the size of the district has also been crucial. They have roughly 21,000 students and a district like CMS has more than 5 times as many students and more logistical issues.

James said communication is key. ISS releases a weekly update on COVID cases and has had nurses on call on the weekends to handle contact tracing. James said districts need to brace for cases

“Don’t freak out, don’t have a knee jerk reaction, that it will happen. You will have quarantine, you just have to rehash what your processes are. Look at them again, make sure to tighten up, move forward, don’t let one incident shut your whole school system down. Because you’re gonna have schools as big as Charlotte-Mecklenburg is, that have school shut down during the week. But if you can have a kid in the seat in any school, I think that’s a plus,” James said.

He said they’ve learned that most students need to be in school full time for emotional and academic support. The district’s failure rate in 6-12th grade students is 65 percent and they’ve been going part time.

They’re also concerned about the emotional toll. James said they’ve had five students die by suicide this year.

Right now counselors are working to get students who may be struggling back in person as much as possible. If parents want a 6-12 grade student to spend more days on campus, they should contact school leaders to try to see if there is space. Counselors have been reaching out to parents of students with failing grades to bring them back.

ISS put together a pledge that all district employees committed to. You can find the video they created for it and more on their learning plans and resources for families, here.

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