Together Again

This resource page includes updated information about COVID-19.

School board approves Maize USD 266 Updated COVID Mitigation: Isolation

The Maize Board of Education during the regular monthly meeting Jan. 10 unanimously approved updates to the district’s COVID-19 mitigation guidelines. The update relates specifically to when students and employees who have tested positive for COVID can end their isolation at home and return to school and work. Students and employees in K-12 schools now fall under the new isolation and quarantine guidance for the general public.

This update reflects the interest of the district and school board to balance the health and safety of our OneMa1ze community and our mission of teaching and learning. These changes are based on recent guidance received from the Sedgwick County Health Department and the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE). Their guidance is based on updates by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for K-12 schools.

Please click here to access the document Maize USD 266 Updated COVID Mitigation: Isolation.

Current Face Mask Requirements by Maize USD 266 School/Grade:

Updated Jan. 14, 2022

Face masks will be mandatory for two weeks at most Maize USD 266 schools as outlined below beginning Tuesday, Jan. 18 in accordance with Maize USD 266’s masking criteria. This means students and employees must wear face masks while indoors during the school day when social distancing is not possible until at least the end of the school day on Friday, Jan. 28 pending case evaluation. 

This mitigation measure is taking place because 3 percent or more of the students in each school are considered COVID-19 positive. The intent of this additional measure is to decrease the spread of COVID-19 and the number of students impacted by potential exposure during times when the COVID-19 virus is more prevalent in our schools.

Face masks will be mandatory for two weeks beginning Jan. 18 at the following schools. You also will find listed each school’s percent of students positive for this week, the week of Jan. 10. 

• Maize Central Elementary School, 4.34 percent
• Maize South Elementary School, 4.28 percent
• Pray-Woodman Elementary School, 4.14 percent
• Maize Intermediate School, 3.64 percent
• Maize South Intermediate School, 6.11 percent
• Maize Middle School, 5.20 percent
• Maize South Middle School, 5.10 percent
• Maize High School, 3.81 percent
• Maize South High School, 6.38 percent
• Complete High School Maize, 16.90 percent
• Hope Learning Center, 3.23 percent

Face masks are optional, but encouraged at all other schools. Please be aware that the percent of students who are positive is approaching 3 percent at the following school.

• Vermillion Elementary School, 2.65 percent

District-wide, there have been 337 positive COVID cases reported this week, bringing the district’s overall percent of students positive to 4.40 percent. In light of this data and record high levels of employee absences and illness this school year, the district encourages everyone to continue to monitor closely for symptoms and stay home and seek testing when experiencing symptoms. Please stay home when awaiting test results.

*Employees and students who provide proof of vaccination will be encouraged to wear a face mask but will not be required to do so.

Maize USD 266 COVID Dashboard

Maize USD 266’s COVID Dashboard reflects cases of Maize USD 266 students and employees as reported to school staff members on the day reflected. Dates of cases may not be reported on the same date. Figures for positive cases are inclusive of all sources of exposure and may not be workplace- or school-related. 

Beginning Dec. 20, the district will no longer facilitate contact tracing and the identification of high-risk and low-risk close contacts in the event of a positive COVID case in our schools or at school activities, including sports. Dashboards from that date forward will no longer include high-risk close contacts. Looking back to the beginning of the school year, the district’s week one dashboard dated the week of Aug. 16 originally also included high-risk close contact figures from all sources of exposure and may not be workplace- or school-related. Two dashboards from the week of Aug. 16 are provided to view, so data is presented consistently during the dates that policy was in effect.

The updated masking criteria, available to view in full by clicking here, explains that the status of each school will be determined by 3 p.m. each Friday and will be applicable for the following week. Schools assigned a face mask requirement by meeting one of these criteria will remain under that policy for two weeks pending case evaluation.

• Face Masks Optional, but Encouraged: Fewer than 3 percent students in the school/building are considered COVID-19 positive.
• Face Masks Mandatory: 3 percent or greater of the students in the school/building are considered COVID-19 positive. Employees and students who provide proof of vaccination will be encouraged to wear a face mask.
• District-Wide or School-Level Masking: District-wide masking will be determined by the Board of Education.

Sept. 20, 2021 note: 

During the 2021-22 school year thus far, the district has posted its weekly Maize USD 266 COVID Dashboard on Mondays to allow time for staff members to verify data from the previous week. Nurses and staff members work on the dashboard data related to student and employee positive COVID cases and high-risk close contacts seven days a week, and having Friday evening and the weekend to finalize data has ensured that the information is complete and accurate. One intention of this timeline was to prevent publishing pending information that ultimately would need to be edited for accuracy. 

From this week forward, Maize USD 266 will aim to post preliminary data each Friday. The dashboard may need to be updated the following week as information is verified for accuracy. If the data indicates that a school’s COVID impact exceeds 6 percent, those schools affected will be notified about the need to mask for the following two weeks following the district’s Masking Criteria.

Please also note the district has published a new Close-Contact Protocol Flow Chart, an expanded resource that helps staff members and families identify when a student or employee will attend school/work, seek COVID testing, quarantine, etc. based on each scenario and details related to symptoms, vaccination status, and face masks.

COVID Dashboard Data Details

How the Dashboard is Built

The following information is shared to provide the OneMa1ze community with information about how Maize USD 266 builds and maintains its COVID Dashboard, posted weekly at www.usd266.com/TogetherAgain. 

• As it did last year, Maize USD 266 maintains a single database of COVID cases that is fed by surveys completed by school staff members (nurses and principals). Staff members enter the data as they know it, as quickly as they can. It is not unusual for there to be either a delay in entering data due to their schedules or the need for time to track down necessary information and contacts. Staff members often enter data in the evenings or during the weekend because of the work they are juggling when students are present in the buildings.
• It is common for the information submitted by staff members to change after they submit the data. This takes place because of factors related to confirming vaccination, a close contact turning into a positive case, confirming that a mask was worn or not worn during a close contact, or the communication timeline with parents or the health department about positive cases. There are several other potential reasons.
• Only a few staff members have access to the main database to protect the privacy of students and staff members; therefore, most of the staff members who can submit a report may not access the database. Any change would need to be done by the superintendent of schools, the board clerk, or one of the two COVID response nurses.
• District staff members work to best discern which date should be associated with each case. For example, one of many scenarios includes a student who experienced symptoms on a Thursday, did not attend school on the following Friday and Monday and then reports a positive test on Tuesday. The date associated with both the positive case and each close contact could be interpreted differently, even when referring to policy, and requires careful consideration.
• There is a possibility that the weekly total that is published on Friday and updated on Monday for any school will be different the following week when the next dashboard is published. Changes in the number of positive cases and high-risk close contacts (HRCC) published from one week to the next could occur at most schools nearly every week due to the nature of virus detection. The most common occurrence will be due to a student(s) who either is a high-risk close contact or absent due to illness. This student(s) then later is tested, and perhaps even later determined to be positive for COVID. That change in status then changes the data. Then, staff members must seek out that student(s)’s close contacts and log them into the database, resulting in a larger number of cases and high-risk close contacts in the previous week. This may only affect a few students in a school or could change the data significantly, depending on vaccination rates, masking, student proximity, or timeline of student attendance.
• Beginning in mid-September, building attendance data based on current enrollment will be included in the dashboard and used to determine masking criteria.
• All of these issues contribute to constant changes to the published data and, as diligent as staff members are, this process will never be completely free from some margin of error (or constant scrutiny). It is anticipated that changes will occur less frequently in the future as the district builds more consistency among all of the individuals who contribute to this process.
• The district asks that parents and staff members report test results to the district at the earliest opportunity for the safety of all students and staff members. This timeliness also supports the most accurate data.

August 2021

• Week One: Week of Aug. 16 (originally published with high-risk close contact figures including all sources of exposure)
• Week One, Updated: Week of Aug. 16 (with high-risk close contact figures only including those related to workplace- or school-related contacts)
• Week Two: Week of Aug. 23
• Week Three: Week of Aug. 30

September 2021

• Week Four: Week of Sept. 6 (no school on Monday, Sept. 6)
• Week Five: Week of Sept. 13
• Week Six: Week of Sept. 20 (no school on Thursday, Sept. 23 and Friday, Sept. 24)
• Week Seven: Week of Sept. 27
  

October 2021

• Week Eight: Week of Oct. 4
• Week Nine: Week of Oct. 11 (updated 2:45 p.m. Oct. 26)
• Week 10: Week of Oct. 18 (no school on Monday, Oct. 18)
• Week 11: Week of Oct. 25

November 2021

• Week 12: Week of Nov. 1
• Week 13: Week of Nov. 8
• Week 14: Week of Nov. 15
• Week 15: Week of Nov. 29

December 2021

• Week 16: Week of Dec. 6
• Week 17: Week of Dec. 13
• Week 18: Week of Dec. 20 (no school on Thursday, Dec. 23 and Friday, Dec. 24)

January 2022

• Week 19: Week of Jan. 3 (no school on Jan. 3 or Jan. 4)

Maize Board of Education meetings

Based on the advice of counsel, Maize USD 266 will no longer be maintaining the video recordings of the Maize Board of Education meetings. For the time being, meetings will be streamed live and available to view on the district’s YouTube channel at bit.ly/Maize266YouTube. However, the district will no longer preserve the recordings of the meetings. Thank you.

Maize USD 266 Mission

The mission of Maize USD 266 is to inspire students to discover their potential through connecting, learning, and leading.

Maize USD 266 Core Values

Integrity. Innovation. Community. Responsibility. Empathy. Resilience

Maize USD 266 Vision

The Maize School District is a student-centered environment where all members of the school-community are empowered to participate and thrive academically, civically, and socially through relevant educational experiences to achieve and fulfill their life’s purpose.