COVID-19 hits 2 Grovetown campuses, including first middle school in area

Add Us On GoogleAdd as a preferred source on Google

GROVETOWN, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - Grovetown High School told parents that a student or employee has tested positive for coronavirus, and meanwhile we’ve learned of the first known case at a local middle school.

At least some parents of students at Grovetown High received letters Monday telling them of the case. A similar letter was sent a few days earlier to parents of kids at Grovetown Middle School.

MORE | COVID-19 closes Ga. school that made news over crowded hallway

Parents of students at each school shared the letters with News 12. The Columbia County School District confirmed the letters’ authenticity.

With the positive case or cases at Grovetown High, all five high schools in the district have seen positive results just a week into the school year. Last week, parents of students at Greenbrier, Harlem, Lakeside and Evans high schools received similar letters.

“Today, August 10, 2020, we were alerted that a student or staff member who may have been in contact with your child/children tested positive for COVID-19,” said the letter signed by Principal Craig W. Baker. “The student or staff member is under quarantine following CDC and Georgia Department of Public Health (DPH) guidelines.”

A parent of a Grovetown High School student shared this letter with News 12.(WRDW)

The letter goes on to tell parents that their child would not be required to quarantine because the child “was not identified to have been in close or direct contact as defined by the CDC and DPH.”

The letter, however, tells parents that in an abundance or precaution, they may want to observe their children for symptoms.

We’ve also learned that parents of kids at Grovetown Middle School received a similar letter last week. The letter was dated Aug. 5, the third day of school.

The district was one of the first in the region to return students to campuses that were closed for much of the second half of the last school year in an effort to curb the spread of coronavirus.

This Aug. 5 letter was sent to parents of kids at Grovetown Middle School.(WRDW)

In-person classes started last Monday at Columbia County high schools and middle schools, but even students who returned to campuses only go there every other day, learning from home on other days. Parents also were given the option for their children to learn from home full-time under a program that started this week.

Since classes have begun in Columbia County, some other districts in this part of Georgia have delayed reopening campuses. Those include McDuffie and Warren counties.