Monroe County Health Department to hire school liaison to assist with COVID-19 cases
The Monroe County Health Department will soon hire a school liaison to monitor COVID-19 cases and assist in related procedures at local schools across the county. The position is part of the department's recent grant award that will offer more support to schools during the ongoing pandemic.
Monroe County recently received $440,000 in grant funding from the Indiana Department of Health to assist schools during the pandemic. An anticipated $80,000 of the grant will go toward funding health personnel with $20,000 going toward supplies. The remaining $340,000 will go directly into delivering services to schools.
As part of the grant's requirement, some funding had to be used to hire a school liaison who will coordinate with the local health department and various schools. The position is temporary and is expected to be in place for one to two years.
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Beginning this spring semester, the liaison will work with schools in the Monroe County Community School Corp. and Richland-Bean Blossom Community School Corp. districts as well as the various independent schools. Each school is expected to complete an assessment that will assist the health department in identify how to be the most helpful and effective.
The liaison will monitor the COVID-19 cases as well as each school's isolation and quarantine procedures. They also will assist with contact tracing during outbreaks and provide additional support to nurses.
The position's creation was unanimously approved by the Monroe County Council on Tuesday.
Noting the timeliness of these expanded services, council member Peter Iversen referenced Indiana's school dashboard, which recently reported a record number of COVID-19 infections the first week back from winter break, with more than 6,500 students testing positive in schools across the state.
More: COVID-19 school dashboard: MCCSC reports dozens of new cases after holiday
"It is so important that we're doing this and congratulations to the health department for reading the tea leaves or whatever magic you're doing over there," Iversen said.
Council member Marty Hawk said she has heard from her daughter, who is a teacher, that many students are very far behind due to COVID-19's persistent presence over the past two years.
"This is just so important that we do whatever we can to help the some of these folks get extra tutoring or whatever they need to try to get caught up. It's important, not just for their future but for the entire country's future," Hawk said.
Contact Rachel Smith at rksmith@heraldt.com or @RachelSmithNews on Twitter.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Monroe County hiring school liaison with state health department grant
