A surge in the number of students placed into quarantine from a small pool of positive tests for the coronovirus has forced El Reno Public Schools to close both its high school and junior high campuses to in-person learning.

Superintendent Craig McVay said Etta Dale Junior High and El Reno High School will be shuttered through November 29. The closures were effective at the end of the school day Thursday, Nov. 12.

The current plan is for students to return to in-person classes on Nov. 30.

“It’s the same problem we have had from the beginning. It’s not the number of cases. Compared to other districts in the county and the state we are fairly low. What hurts us is the amount of teachers and students tagged in quarantine from the few cases we have had this week

“We don’t have enough substitute teachers that can cover that amount of classes for that long. This is one of those instances we tried to do everything we could,” said McVay.

All students in grades 7-12 will switch to distance learning method. The lock down does not affect students in grades below seventh. Those students will continue with in-person learning.

“We will be monitoring pre-kindergarten through sixth grade continuously and will transition to distance learning if necessary,” said McVay.

McVay said most extracurricular activities, including sports, for students in grades 7-12 will be canceled until the Monday (Nov. 30) after the Thanksgiving break. El Reno Public Schools, all sites, are closed for the holiday the week of Nov. 23-27.

“We suspended extracurricular activities until the 30th. I know that hurts because we have basketball and wrestling getting ready to kick off  and that is frustrating. I would rather be frustrated than to get sick and die.

“We have to balance the need to go to school face to face and all the fun things of being in school against the health and well being of the entire staff and student body,” said McVay.

The status of El Reno High School’s football team is still up in the air. The Indians, 7-2 on the year, had a bye this week in the “play-in” round of the Class 5A playoffs after winning the District 5A-1 crown.

El Reno was slated to take on the winner of the Noble/Piedmont game on Nov. 20 at Memorial Stadium.

The Oklahoma State Department of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have mandated that the quarantine period be 14 days for anyone exposed to COVID-19 and 10 days for a confirmed positive test. McVay said the district plans to challenge that time frame.

He said ERPS does not determine who or how many people are placed into quarantine. The district turns over all contact data to the county and state health departments, which then issues a quarantine list.

“We are going to fight that. What we have done is put our legal on two questions. First, as far as the quarantine we want to know who is in charge of investigating it and we need to see the details.

“Second, with Oklahoma Secondary School Activity Association (OSSAA) has a set of rules and we want to ask some questions. They say that in a championship game the OSSAA staff can determine how to proceed. We are in a championship game since the winner is the only one that can advance,” said McVay.

McVay said he has asked the district’s legal team to look into the matter and explore all options.

“We are going to keep fighting for our football season until they tell us to shut up and that we don't have the leg to stand on. We have the finest legal team in Oklahoma and we will work until they tell us we don’t have a chance and to back off. We will fight for the kids, they all deserve it,” said McVay.

McVay added El Reno reported three more students and one faculty member with a positive test on Thursday. In its daily COVID-19 Response Update, the district now has 12 students and seven faculty members under isolation with a positive test.

The number of active quarantines from contact tracing, as of Thursday, was 185 students and 19 faculty.

The report on Friday, Nov. 13 showed the number of active cases for students had dropped by four to eight. The faculty count increased by one to represent an EHS educator who has tested positive.

Student quarantines had dropped three to 182, while faculty quarantines were down to 17.

One of those reported with positive results on Thursday was a member of the football team.

Contact tracing tagged the entire coaching staff, trainer and all but 11 varsity players for quarantine status.