BREAUX BRIDGE, La. (KLFY) – Two big changes are coming to COVID-19 guidelines in St. Martin Parish schools. The school board passed the new policies Friday afternoon.
The biggest change that’s going to affect a lot of students is what happens if they’re exposed to COVID-19. Before Friday, students who were exposed were forced to miss school, even if they weren’t sick.
“We felt it was the right time to make changes to the guidelines. What we’re doing is we’ve adopted something very similar to what Lafayette Parish adopted,” St. Martin Parish Superintendent Allen Blanchard said.
Blanchard says the governor has been mandating all students exposed to COVID-19 to quarantine at home. The superintendent says on Wednesday, however, that mandate expired. “We will no longer be quarantining students due to close contact, so essentially what it boils down to is if you’re sick, you stay home. If you’re not sick, come to school,” Blanchard told News Ten.
He says the old guidelines required schools to contact trace as well. So when a student tested positive for COVID-19, students who they came into contact with also had to be sent home to quarantine.
“We were sending a lot of students home that never became sick. The guidelines required you to contact trace, and students who were considered a close contact had to quarantine. Many of those students never did actually become ill. So now they will not have to quarantine. They will be able to stay in school,” Blanchard added.
He says though the numbers of students who’ve been sent home to quarantine have decreased over the last few weeks, many students who do not have COVID-19 are still out of school.
“The guidelines that the board approved this evening are effective immediately. So any students who were quarantined, if they’re not sick, they can return to school on Monday,” he said.
The superintendent says there is still a presidential mandate in place that requires students to wear masks on buses.
He says that’s the only time, however, students must wear masks at school.
