Southern Boone High School temporarily closes after COVID-19 exposure

ASHLAND, Mo. (KMIZ)

According to a letter sent to parents Monday, Southern Boone School District closed the high school for cleaning Tuesday, after a student tested positive for COVID-19.

As of 10 a.m. Tuesday, the Southern Boone School District COVID-19 dashboard says there are six active positive cases among staff, one active positive case among students, 13 staff in quarantine and 92 students in quarantine.

In the letter to parents, 25 students came in close contact with a positive case at last week's junior varsity football game. It's unclear if the positive case was a student or a member of the community.

Administrators say in the letter a high school student was asymptomatic but later tested positive for COVID-19.

Chris Felmlee, the Southern Boone County R-I School District superintendent says his concern is not with the extracurricular activities but more with making sure parents are informed and following through with contact tracing.

"It is critically important that if a student is getting tested, regardless of the reason, that they stay home until that that test comes back negative," Felmlee said.

Officials said the building had to close for cleaning because the student tested positive while at school.

"It's just, we're living in a pandemic and these are things that we have to do," Felmlee said. "When we are given information, we've got to follow up on it and do our best to contact trace as thoroughly as possible."

The high school is expected to reopen Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the district continued to provide in-seat instruction for preschool through eighth grade Tuesday.