Dramatically scaled back homecoming set for Friday

Despite battling an outbreak of COVID-19, Cameron High School will hold its homecoming ceremony Friday but with a few notable exceptions.

Cameron R-1 School District Superintendent Matt Robinson announced the 2020 Cameron High School Homecoming Parade, annual bonfire and homecoming dance will be cancelled or incorporated into the 2021 spring sports schedule.

“District and high school administration have been engaged in conversations about how to proceed with Homecoming 2020 festivities for several weeks,” said Robinson, in a statement released last week. “We understand that homecoming is a deep-rooted tradition in our community, but the increasing cases of COVID-19 in our community and the number of students and staff that have had to quarantine because of contact tracing we have had to make some difficult decisions … It is with regret that we will not be able to have the bonfire, parade, or the homecoming dance at this time. We are having discussions of moving some of these traditions in the spring if our situation improves.”

Last Monday, Cameron High School implemented a hybrid schedule shortly after announcing the school’s first COVID-19 infection and sending home 20 students in response. As part of Plan B the district will split the high school student body into two groups, Group A and Group B, which the district would determine based on alphabetical order. While Group A - students with last names starting from A to L - attends class Tuesdays and Thursdays, Group B - students M to Z - attends class Wednesdays and Fridays. All CHS students will attend class online Mondays. All other Cameron R-1 School District students will attend class as normal. Plan C splits students from all schools into two groups and Plan D is a complete shutdown. 

While announcing CHS’ first COVID-19 infection, Laurie Medford, assistant superintendent, said there is not a fixed number or rate for if the district would return to class as normal or shift to Plan C or D.

We do not have a hard and fast number. We are watching every day, mainly in Clinton County and DeKalb County as far as number of reported cases ... We’re looking at the amount of positive cases, the trend over seven days. We’re looking at percentages,” Medford said. 

The Citizen-Observer will provide a livestream of Friday’s homecoming game and festivities, available on our Facebook page.