Seven Oaks Classical School has reported its first positive case of COVID-19 since starting class last Wednesday.
Despite being under the jurisdiction of Monroe County’s health order, school officials are still not requiring children or staff to wear face coverings inside the building.
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Terry English provides legal counsel for the school and is a member of its Board of Directors. He said although masks are not mandatory, wearing one could exempt someone from being a close contact.
"A good portion of our students are unmasked, but a number of them are masked," English said. "Taking very seriously the health concerns that they have.”
Seven Oaks headmaster Stephen Shipp confirmed the positive case was reported by a teacher. He said eight students are close contacts and must quarantine as well.
"Just as recommended by the Indiana State Department of Health, we try to identify anybody who constitutes as a close contact and we make sure we notify those families and have those students quarantine," Shipp said.
Per the school’s COVID-19 protocol, students will have as many days to make up their work as the number of days they miss. Shipp said teachers will remain connected virtually with quarantined students to make sure they don’t fall behind.
"We have our teachers trying to support them to the extent possible. We're trying to make sure that we're able to sustain progress," Shipp said. "Clearly there are a lot of cases that are popping up around town. We’re grateful that we can continue offering in-person instruction to as many students as possible."
With a K-12 student enrollment of 502, Seven Oaks has about 550 people inside the building on most days after accounting for faculty and staff.
In a conversation last week, county attorney Margie Rice told WFIU/WTIU that the school's current policy does not follow CDC guidelines, and therefore violates the county's health order.
"We will handle them the way we handle any complaint that we get. We investigate and try to get voluntary compliance, and if we can’t, then we always have the option of issuing a fine," Rice said.
Rice said the maximum fine for violating the mask requirement is $500 per day, but that would require approval from the Board of Commissioners, and possibly an injunction filed in Monroe County Circuit Court.
"We’re looking forward to concentrating on education and not litigation," English said.
English said on Monday the county’s legal department has yet to pursue the school for violating the mask mandate.
