Editor’s note: The following is a note from Upshur County Schools Superintendent Dr. Sara Lewis Stankus

BUCKHANNON — As an increase in COVID-19 cases occurred over the Labor Day weekend, Upshur County Schools is aware of and continues to carefully monitor the situation.

We collaborate and maintain constant contact with our local public health authorities about community case counts and the impact on our schools.

Unless there is an outbreak in one of our schools, we utilize the color-coded County Alert System guidance from the WVDHHR and the West Virginia Department of Education (https://wvde.us/school-reentry-metrics-protocols/).

Through that process, decisions about school attendance are made on Saturdays for the following week.

Upshur County’s color went up from green to yellow earlier this morning.

Though today’s change does not impact attendance or activities this week, we want to ensure our families that our existing precautions would meet the recommendations given for ‘yellow’ communities.

In yellow, we can continue our current practices related to attendance in our cohorts and extracurricular activities. We will continue to monitor changes in local case counts and collaborate with the Upshur-Buckhannon Health Department, WVDHHR, and the West Virginia Department of Education regarding school attendance next week.

Thank you for your patience and understanding in these challenging times. Remember, all of us have a role to play in keeping our community safe and our schools and businesses open. This is the year that we show we are Upshur Strong.