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The Dewey Public Schools Board of Education agrees to remove COVID-19 contact tracing from the district's Bulldogger Back to School Plan.

Superintendent Vince Vincent says this means they are eliminating coronavirus contact tracing for the purpose of quarantining students for what they would deem as exposure to non-household cases. Vincent gave an example, stating that if student "A" came down with the virus and students "B" and "C" were deemed as close contacts, their parents would be given the option to quarantine their students or keep them in school but they would need to wear a mask for five days. He says that scenario/part of the plan is being scrapped in its entirety.

If an outbreak of cases were to occur in the future, Vincent says they would do some contact tracing for the sole purpose of contacting parents to let them know if their child was exposed or not. He says parents would then be given the ability to determine what is necessary for their child (whether it be keeping them home, sending them to school with a mask, etc.).

Vincent says they have gone two full weeks without COVID-19 cases on campus. He says state and local health departments have moved away from contact tracing as well. National movements to no longer require masks and more led to this decision by the Board, too.

The removal of contacting tracing was the only change that was made. Vincent says the plan has been updated three times since it was implemented in July. He says they may see revisions before school starts next year, depending on where they are at with the COVID-19 situation.