Colman-Egan volleyball spectators will be required to wear masks in order to watch the last games of the season.
The Colman-Egan School Board modified its rules for mitigating coronavirus at its meeting Thursday night. The precautions in place, including having grades 4-12 wearing masks in school and using plexiglass partitions, have been working well, said Principal Scott Hemmer. The district has not required masks at sporting events.
“All of a sudden, we kind of got slugged this week,” he said.
The district has had a handful of middle and high school students test positive for COVID-19 since school started, but in the last two weeks, four teachers tested positive. Finding substitutes who can handle all aspects of the classroom, including remote learning, has been difficult and has meant the school was a few people short, he said.
The school is part of the state Sentinel program in which a few teachers are tested every week for COVID-19.

Board member Mary Beth Zwart asked Superintendent Brian Corlett to work on a plan in case the district has to go to remote learning if the number of cases jumps. The board also asked administration to reinforce and remind people about hygiene precautions and other efforts to ward off the disease and keep the school open.
“Let’s continue to see how we can keep them playing (sports), as well as keeping the doors open for school,” she said.
One of the biggest factors will be if the school has healthy staff, Hemmer said. “The only way we’re able to do anything is if we have healthy teachers here. That’s going to be the most paramount issues if teachers aren’t healthy,”
In other business,
•Free federal lunches for all students will be provided through the end of the school year, new information that the government provided the school district. Initially, the lunches were for the first semester or whenever money ran out.
•The board hired Jeremy Crisp as an assistant football coach.
•Attendance at both in-person and virtual parent-teacher conferences was overall 97.65 percent, Hemmer said. That included 95 elementary families, 50 middle school students and 40 high school students.
“I think they just liked having different options, and they didn’t have to come into the building,” he said.