Muskogee Schools Announces New Way To Monitor Student Quarantines

Muskogee Public Schools is launching a new way to keep track of the number of quarantines in the district.

This week, the hallways and classrooms are empty at Muskogee High School and the 7th and 8th grade academy. Both transitioned to virtual learning this week. 

"It's just a constant battle," said Muskogee Schools spokesperson, Steve Braun. 

Braun said the decision is because the district had too many in in quarantine, and not enough staff. This week, the district launched a website for anyone to monitor the number of quarantines.

“We have data that folks can go and look at them, check out how you school is doing. You can search how many teachers are out, how many staff are out, and how many students out,” Braun said. 

The district said at the high school alone, 16 positive cases and 47 close contacts were reported Monday, and 21 on Tuesday. With only 15 full-time substitutes for 350 teachers, the district just could not give quality learning in the classroom. 

"When you look at that makes you step back for a second and realize that we're still in the brunt of this," Braun said.  

Mayor Marlon Coleman said they have seen a drop in COVID-19 cases, but they are still not where they need to be.

"It gives me personally a lot of pain. I know it's disappointing to a lot of our parents and our educators because, even though we're in the pandemic, as much as possible we want our young people in school," Coleman said. 

The 7th and 8th grade academy will go back to in-person learning Monday. The high school will stay in distance learning until at least Tuesday.

You can find the website here.