Mustang Schools Weighing Full Return Of High School Classes After Staff Member Dies Of COVID Complications

The Mustang Public Schools District will decide by Friday whether to return to full-time in-person classes for high school students. Meanwhile, the district announced Wednesday a staff member died from complications involving COVID-19.

In letters to families and staff, Superintendent Charles Bradley said the staff member "dedicated years of service" to the district, and the person's name would not be released because of a request from the family for privacy.

"While we do not believe that this case is a result of a link to the school environment, we will continue to work with our State and local health agencies to monitor this pandemic and will do all we can to affirm our commitment to the health/safety of our staff and students," Bradley wrote.

“This is heartbreaking news. Our thoughts and prayers are with the family and the entire Mustang Public Schools community.” – Joy Hofmeister, State Superintendent of Public Instruction

For the past three weeks, Mustang High School has operated on a split schedule where students go to in-person classes two days each week. The other three days are dedicated to online classes from home. Elementary and Middle schools are operating traditional, in-person classes fully.

Several people in a social media group for Mustang parents said they prefer returning to traditional classes rather than keeping the current split schedule.

The district has protocols outlined for when to hold tradition, split and virtual classes based on guidelines from the Oklahoma Department of Education.

As of Sep. 3, Canadian County had a COVID-19 infection rate of 11.56 cases per 100,000, which is up from 9.54 on Aug.20. Both rates of infection keep the county in the OSDE's "yellow" category.

The parent of one Mustang first-grader, Fashion Larios, opted to enroll in virtual classes for the year and said she is happy with her decision.

The virtual (classes are) going wonderful for us," she said. "I applaud the parents that took their kids back. I wish I felt safer for my son to go back, but at this moment I don't."