Jackson Christian discusses COVID-19 precautions for students

JACKSON, Tenn. — Jackson Christian has been in session for a little more than a week and, so far, they haven’t seen a case of COVID-19.

About 750 students go to Jackson Christian, but not all of those students are on campus.

“We’ve implemented a blended model,” said Lisa Hickerson, director of academics for the school’s secondary campus.

Every grade level has different plans. Half of eighth through 12th grade will be on campus every day.

The other half is going to school virtually.

The school has the hope that they’ll be able to handle the responsibility.

“We have a blue cohort and a gold cohort. They basically have split our student body in half,” Hickerson said.

Sixth and seventh graders have a similar program, but instead of being at home, half the students will go to school virtually while spread out in the cafeteria.

“The sixth and seventh grade struggle with having to be self-directed and work online, so we’re trying to train them in that way,” Hickerson said.

Preschool and elementary school are doing traditional learning, meaning everyone will be in the classroom, but they are being careful.

Jackson Christian president Dr. Mark Benton says they know they’ll get a case of COVID-19 eventually, but they’re trying to prevent the spread as much as possible. Part of that means erring on the side of caution.

“We know that we are being very intentional about contact tracing, being very intentional about social distancing. The students have seemed to master the ability to stand up and mask up. When they sit down, the mask can come down,” Benton said.

Benton says even from day one, they’ve worked on the routine and students seem to have bought in.

“Thus far it has worked,” he said.

Even when there’s a chance someone may be sick, they’re not taking any risks.

“Mostly what we have are students that their parents or their grandparents are going through tests, and we go ahead and tell them to stay at home. Most of those have turned out negative, so they have returned to school rather quickly, within a couple of days,” Hickerson said.

The school also has a one-to-one Chromebook plan, which school leaders say is helping with virtual learning.