LITTLETON, Colo. (KDVR) — Columbine High School teachers went above and beyond last weekend to keep their classes in person after learning of several positive COVID cases.
The COVID-19 dashboard for CHS shows the 7-day rolling case count is up to 27. On Sunday, there were five total cases, but the doors still remained open for those COVID negative on Monday.
“I don’t know if any of my principals slept at all that night, contacting anyone on the planet to keep Columbine open,” English teacher Autumn Harth said.
After learning of several COVID-19 cases at the high school, Harth was anticipating another switch from in-person to remote learning.
“We were waiting for that email and then on Friday, instead we got an email saying let’s have a staff meeting in 20 minutes,” Harth said.
Staff came together with a plan and a heavy Amazon order – hundreds and hundreds of rapid tests that students would need to take before 3 p.m. Sunday in order to safely come back to the classroom this week.
“It was a mad dash to get all of the students here and then some of my students couldn’t get into the building,” she said.
To give her students the greatest chance to stay in school, Harth decided to take tests to the kids who couldn’t come pick one up. With each test, she also dropped off their favorite candy.
“For a lot of them, this is the one place they have a trusted adult or they get a meal or they have somewhere warm to be so that was the first thing on my mind, was trying to get as many people here we could,” Harth said, adding “I want people to know teachers are out here trying to do our best by our students whatever that might be.”