UNION COUNTY, N.C. — Parents were left frustrated and confused after nearly 100 students were quarantined at Cuthbertson Middle School in Union County on Tuesday. 

Some parents said they got texts and emails their child needed to quarantine just minutes before the school day was set to begin. Others were notified after exposed students were already at the school. 

“Cuthbertson Middle School [Tuesday] had about six or seven students report positive cases. Due to the positive cases, there were about 94 students that were placed on quarantine. But, we had six or seven positive cases, so when you look at a 6-foot radius, you may have several students that do go on quarantine,” said assistant superintendent Jarrod McCraw during Tuesday night’s UCPS Board of Education meeting.

94 students were quarantined Tuesday after exposure to 6-7 positive COVID-19 cases

Parents say notification process was confusing, came too late

Public health director says he understands parents' frustration 

Earlier in the meeting, some UCPS parents criticized the board during the public comments section for the Cuthbertson situation. 

On Wednesday, a Union County mom with a sixth-grader at the school, said the notification process was frustrating and confusing.

“Actually, while getting my high schooler out the door, we received a text message from the health department,” Nicole Chowning said.

The text was about her other son, a sixth-grader at the school, who needed to stay home to quarantine.

“The text message included a date to get tested, which had already passed, and a date to return to school. It did not include an exposure date,” Chowning added. 

Chowning, who works from home, said they spent the next two hours scrambling to find more information and schedule a test. As the morning progressed, Chowning heard from more and more parents whose children also were quarantined. Some, Chowning said, were not notified until after their children had already been sent off for the school day. 

Her son was one of 94 people told to quarantine due to the positive tests. However, Chowning said the schools and county needed to do a better job of communicating after an email from a school nurse Tuesday afternoon created more confusion. 

“What’s frustrating is that some of the information in her email conflicts with what parents received from the health department. The return to school date is different, it’s one day sooner. So, without a negative test, my child can return on the 11th. We were told in the text and from the health department it’s the 12th,” Chowning added.

This was the family’s second school-related quarantine. After Labor Day weekend, Chowning’s other son, a high-schooler, was identified as a close contact. But, since he was fully vaccinated, he was not asked to quarantine and there were no other steps to take, Chowning explained. Chowning said they were notified quicker after Labor Day than what happened this week, since it was before the board voted to change UCPS’ approach to contact tracing and quarantine orders. Now, contact tracing and quarantine decisions come from the county’s public health department. 

Chowning said she just wants more transparency from the school after a frustrating start to the year.

“The addition of this close contact communication yesterday was on the heels of another incident, where the math teacher had been out for two weeks. There was no communication from the school on what was being done in those days for those students,” Chowning said.

She said her son told her they were sent to the cafeteria each day during the math teacher’s absence, watched math-related videos and then completed worksheets based on the videos.

“I just need transparency, that there’s a teacher out. That’s all you need to tell me. There’s a teacher out, and here’s what we’re doing,” she said. 

She was not the only parent upset with what happened Tuesday.

Dan Auslander received a similar text Tuesday morning. His son, a fellow sixth-grader, was identified as another close contact. However, once Auslander counted back from his son’s safe-to-return date, to figure out a day of exposure, he realized his son was not at school the time the exposure would have happened.

“Our child was not in school those days. He was home sick, unrelated to COVID, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday of last week,” Auslander said over the phone Wednesday morning. 

Auslander said he tried to tell the county’s public health contact tracing investigator about his son’s absence, but the investigator could not use the information.

“We can’t release that, you need to talk to the school about that, because we don’t have the attendance records. We can’t verify that he wasn’t there,” Auslander said the county told him Tuesday.

Finally, Auslander decided to email the school board, asking them to get involved and help get his son back to school as quickly as possible. Eventually, after the health department and UCPS exchanged attendance records, Auslander was told his son could return to school immediately. He went back Wednesday morning.

“My kids lost a day of instruction, needlessly,” Auslander said. 

Both parents said a mask mandate would have prevented what happened to their children. If masks were universally required, students would not need to quarantine unless they were in a maskless close contact situation like eating in the cafeteria. 

Tuesday night, the board voted 7 to 2 to continue the district's optional policy.

Wednesday, UCPS said it was following current protocols and cooperating with the county’s public health department on information needed for contact tracing.

In a statement Wednesday afternoon, county public health director Dennis Joyner said: 

“We understand the frustration related to delays with notification for quarantines. Our goal is to contact individuals who have tested positive, or have been in close contact with a positive individual, as quickly as possible. Union County Public Health and Union County Public Schools are working together daily to share information related to positive cases and determining close contacts. However, there are inherent challenges with timely reporting and notification. Even if an individual is tested right away, there may be a lag in the lab result being reported in the state system, which delays notification to Public Health for providing guidance for isolation and quarantines of close contacts. Contact tracing has always been and will continue to be a difficult piece of the process due to the nature of it. Close contacts are identified as those within 6 feet of a positive individual for more than 15 minutes. Therefore, in a school setting, all children in a classroom may not be contacted or quarantined.”