Lakeview High School Shuts Down In-Person Learning Even Though Their Covid-19 Numbers Declined

An email from Blake Prewitt, Superintendent of Battle Creek’s Lakeview schools, was sent to the parents of Battle Creek’s Lakeview High School students informing them they are ending all in-person classroom instruction and moving back to all online instruction.   Currently, this shutdown on in-person classroom instruction will last from Wednesday, September 15th through Friday, September 24^th

It is interesting and telling that this email/notice or information was never sent to any news outlets as a press release.  I discovered this from a parent forwarding me a copy of the email and I gave that to my flagship station, WBCK, news people to report.

Mr. Prewitt stated the reason for the shutdown of in-person classroom instruction was due to an outbreak of Covid-19 cases and a recommendation order from the Calhoun County Health Department.  Part of the email stated:

“Due to an ongoing outbreak of COVID19 at Lakeview High School, the Calhoun County Public Health Department (CCPHD) notified us tonight that Lakeview High School will transition from in-person learning to distance learning starting tomorrow, Wednesday, September 15, through Friday, September 24th.  This transition is for Lakeview High School students only.  Students also will not attend in-person at the Battle Creek Area Mathematics and Science Center or Calhoun Area Career Center.  In-person learning will resume Monday, September 27th.”

The email then stated:

“Per the CCPHD, athletics (indoor and outdoor) and outdoor extracurricular activities will continue as scheduled. It is recommended by the health department that students who are not under quarantine or isolation avoid large indoor gatherings and outdoor gatherings that would put large groups of students in close proximity to each other.”

If you look at Lakeview High Schools' own data, the number of students who tested positive for Covid-19 has actually declined in the last two weeks.  The following pictures are from the Lakeview School District Covid-19 Dashboard:

The week of August 30, 2021, there were 3 Lakeview High School students confirmed positive and 11 quarantined:

The week of September 6, 2021, there were 18 Lakeview High School students confirmed positive and 117 quarantined:

The week of Week September 13, 2021, were 8 Lakeview High School students confirmed positive and 41 quarantined:

The question to ask is what was the determining factor to shut down in-person classroom instruction when the numbers were declining week to week?  Yes, we only have three full weeks of data to draw from but they did make that decision on this data and the data clearly shows a decline in the numbers.

From September 6^th to September 13^th the confirmed positive numbers declined 55.55% and the quarantine numbers declined 65%.

Is there an overabundance of caution or is this shutdown really warranted when the School district's own numbers show a massive decline in the numbers?

You decide!