The Centerburg Local School District is trying to adjust to the challenges that the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has had in the current school year.

Superintendent Michael Hebenthal issued a news release trying to explain the district’s decision to implement a recent mask mandate.  

“As of Friday, Sept. 3, 21% of the student body of the district were absent,” he said. “This weekend, we were notified of four more student diagnoses and two more staff diagnoses. We are awaiting quarantine orders from Knox Public Health. We are moving staff around in an attempt to continue to have school due to lack of substitute teachers.”

The startup costs and ongoing costs of running a separate online school is not possible for small districts, according to Hebenthal.

“Attempting to provide online learning was not successful last year,” he said. “The data from across the state is clear that temporarily implemented online learning is not effective.”

Hebenthal said it was essential for students to attend class in person, and the district was left in a catch-22 predicament.

“The district is stuck in between state mandated actions by the Ohio Department of Health, Knox Public Health, the Governor’s Office and the Ohio Legislature and a divided public that either wants students in masks for safety reasons or feels masks mandates are unconstitutional,” he said. “It is our desire to find conditions in which students can learn.”   

Since the pandemic began, over five million children have tested positive for COVID-19, with 252,000 cases identified last week. The latest surge accounts for the biggest number of cases among children since the pandemic began.