COVID-19 cases reported at 2% in Clovis schools

CLOVIS — The most recent wave of COVID-19 has doubled the number of positive cases in the Clovis Municipal School District. Loran Hill, recently appointed director of operations, reported the news to the Clovis school board at Tuesday’s monthly meeting.

From the previous 14-day rolling period to the one that ended Monday, a 1.11 percent increase in positive COVID cases was seen among district members. That brought the total percentage of positive tests to over 2 percent district wide. This is the highest rate of positive cases reported to date in CMS, Hill said.

Hill also reported to the board that in addition to those individuals testing positive, close contacts increased from 115 to 205 during the rolling period.

From the first half of January to the last, the district’s absentee rate jumped from 1.38% to 2.48%, Hill said.

In an effort to keep students and staff in school, the district has implemented a “test-to-stay” program for which 273 people are eligible, Hill said. The staff vaccination rate is 69%. The student vaccination rate is 8.6%.

While COVID numbers are on the rise, Hill said “depending on circumstances and symptoms,” quarantine for those affected by the virus has been reduced from 10 days to five.

Hill also recapped for the board the results of a survey issued last November to family members of students in the district. The survey yielded 1,036 responses to questions concerning the ongoing pandemic.

Questions on the survey ranged from concerns regarding student exposure at school to questions of who should be determining the COVID policies and procedures that impact local students and staff.

In response to the latter, “70% of the respondents agreed that we should have some local control regarding the pandemic,” Hill said.

Additionally, “65.6% of the respondents said that they are more concerned about how (COVID-19 is) affecting our students’ education than the virus itself,” Hill said.

About 67% of respondents thought schools were taking appropriate precautions against COVID-19, while less than 9% disagreed.

A full summary of this survey’s results can be found at:

http://www.clovis-schools.org/board_of_ed/board_meetings.html .

In other business:

Deputy Superintendent of Finance Shawna Russell reported on the district’s 80-day average as it relates to the 9105 funding source used to determine school budgets.

“The 9105 is the funding source which we base our yearly budgets off of,” Russell said. “It is a combination of a lot of factors ... kiddos, special education, bilingual, fine arts,” among other things. “Our student count is higher, this year, on the 80th day, than it was on our funded days last year,” Russell said. “However, our budget is lower – our funding is lower, because each group of students, each grade of students, gets a factor.”

Russell estimated a loss of $935,000 for CMS.

She also cited a surplus in state funds reported by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham and said, “We anticipate an increase in that unit value.”