BURKEVILLE, Texas — Burkeville ISD announced Tuesday they will close campuses until Monday Jan. 24 due to a rise in positive COVID-19 cases.
They will be using these days to conduct a deep clean of campuses and transportation departments, according to the district's website.
The district says their top priority is the health and safety of students, staff and the community.
“No one likes to be out of school,” said Burkeville ISD interim Superintendent Dr. Darrell Myers.
But that's the reality students and teachers are currently facing at Burkeville ISD.
“Over the last two weeks, since we've been back from Christmas, we've been seeing a rising number of cases. And we breach stage four,” Myers said.
The superintendent is talking about their COVID-19 protocol matrix. Stage four calls for a brief shutdown.
“We've closed for the remainder of the week with about 15% of our kids to positive, confirmed positive,” Myers said.
The district will deep clean all facilities and buses before returning back to school.
“Well, what we've done is set up a matrix with our Board of Trustees back at the first of the year, they laid out five different stages of the degree of infection within the school district,” Myers said.
Stage 5 would require a long-term closure. That would happen if confirmed cases exceed 15%.
“We have about 222 students in our district and we have 31 confirmed cases and yesterday we had 51 absences,” Myers said.
Myers said those absences are just from students, and deciding to shut down the school wasn't easy.
“And it's always a tough call when you when you call the school and in close school. But the safety of the kids is first and foremost thing,” Myers said.
Meyers says students will have to make up missed days at some point during the school year.
Students and staff members will return back to school on Monday.
Related: Where can I get a COVID-19 test?
With COVID-19 spreading at alarming rates across Texas, more testing options are available. Officials continue to stress the importance of widespread testing in order to better gauge community spread.
Beaumont & Southeast Texas locations
- MedExpress at 3565 College Street, Beaumont
- AFC Urgent Care at 3195 Dowlen, Beaumont
- Riceland Healthcare, 85 I-10 Service Road, Beaumont
- TAN Healthcare at 1495 N. 7th Street, Beaumont
- Legacy Healthcare at 450 N. 11th Street and 3455 Stagg (pediatric), Beaumont
- Baptist Hospital at 608 Strickland Drive, Orange
- Beaumont Emergency Care at 4004 College Street, Beaumont
- Beaumont VA Clinic at 3420 Plaza Cir, Beaumont
- Exceptional Emergency Care at 4755 Eastex Frwy, Beaumont
- Exceptional Emergency Care at 3330 Hwy 365, Port Arthur
- Exceptional Emergency Care at 1321 N. 16th St, Orange
- CVS Pharmacy at 2950 Dowlen Road and 6850 Eastex Frwy, Beaumont, must pre-register online.
- Christus Promptu Care at 4046 Dowlen Road, Beaumont
- People's Urgent Care at 3255 N. Major Drive, Beaumont
Anyone can visit Vaccine.BeaumontTexas.gov to sign up for a FREE vaccination. Some of the pharmacies in the area offering vaccines and boosters are…
Around the country, officials are encouraging everyone to get vaccinated and boosted.