BEAR RIVER HIGH – By Cari Doutre – December 9, 2020
News broke Wednesday afternoon that the start of the high school wrestling season at Bear River High originally slated to begin this week for the boys’ and girls’ wrestling teams has been postponed after an outbreak of positive COVID-19 cases.
In an email issued to parents from Bear River High School administrators sent Dec. 9, it stated that “at this time we will not be closing Bear River High School.”
The email adds that 15 positive cases of COVID-19 were identified within the two wrestling groups. As part of state issued and Utah High School Activities Association mandates, in order for schools to keep extra-curricular activities running, students involved in those activities must be tested for the virus.
“We have followed and implemented the mandates issued to have school and keep extra-curricular activities happening,” the email states.
The email continues that, “Due to the high number of positive cases isolated to these two groups, it has been decided by the School District and Bear River Health Department, to suspend these programs until Dec. 21, 2020. On Monday, Dec. 21 they will be able to resume all practices and meets. This is an unfortunate situation, but we hope that this break will stop the spread and allow us to resume without incident.
Because the positive tests are within these specified groups the Health Department and School District decided to keep our school open. This was determined because it was not school-spread. This could change, as with everything seems to these days, so until things change, we will continue to teach and function as normal.
The mandates, though not popular, have afforded us to be in school and even have other activities. To this date, we have no evidence of kid-to-kid spread while in classrooms at BRHS. We attribute this to wearing our masks properly, washing hands regularly, hand sanitizer, and distancing ourselves when we can. Though not popular or even enjoyable at times, these simple measures have allowed us to continue to hold in-person classes while keeping students and staff safe.
Our teachers have been reminded and will continue to support and work with students in quarantine or isolation. Please contact them directly with questions regarding school work. We currently have more than 200 students in quarantine.
Also, our teachers have been instructed to continue to enforce the mask mandate. It has proven effective in our school to stop the spread while students are wearing them properly in our school classroom settings. Due to the influx of students testing positive, we may enforce these mandates more intensely. Properly worn means the mask covers the nose and chin. Please support us as we work to educate your students while striving to keep them safe and in school.
Thank you for handling everything in these crazy times. It's not easy for you, for your students, for our staff. But together we can make it better, make it easier, make it more manageable. We are BEARS, and BEARS stick together and work together!”
- BRHS Administration, Dec. 9, 2020
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