One might consider it a blessing from above. No students at Community Christian School have tested positive for COVID-19 this school year.

Over 150 children, from infant to eighth grade are educated at the school, located at 2406 9 1/2 Ave. S.

According to Principal Stephanie Coble-Day, none have become ill from COVID-19.

And although six staff members out of 23 have tested positive for the virus, Coble-Day is pleased overall with the health of both students and staff.

She credits the school’s diligence in following Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines.

In addition to the school, CCS also operates a day care.

“After day cares reopened, we started the mask policy,” Coble-Day said. “We also temped in families and children.”

Temperature checks, a process the principal referred to as ‘temping,”became common throughout the year.

She said staff really focused on cleaning.

“They cleaned the tables three times a day,” Coble-Day said. “Morning, afternoon and night. And we strongly encouraged sanitizing.”

The school also limited visitors, including parents.

“We kept some of the traffic down by not allowing family members into the classrooms,” she said. “When we started in the fall, we decided to implement the same sort of thing. Students and staff wore masks into the building. We temped everybody in. We encouraged hand washing and hand sanitizing throughout the day. We limited the number of volunteers in the building.”

The school’s winter concert was a Facebook Live event.

“We also did not do basketball or cheerleading because we would be interacting with other schools,” Coble-Day said. “We haven’t had a whole lot of exposure to other kids

The school has loosened its mask policy in recent times.

“We have been very conscious about wearing masks, protecting each other and being safe,” Coble-Day said. “And when the federal and state guidelines asked us to wear masks all the time, we did. There was a big chunk of year where we wore masks all the time.”

Coble-Day said now students can take their masks off when they reach their classroom.

“When they are in the classroom, they can take their mask off,” she said.

While out in the halls, students and staff are expected to wear them.

“We try to social distance from other classrooms and social distance at lunch as well. We changed our schedule so not everyone is in the lunchroom at the same time.”

Coble-Day is looking forward to the day when schools can ease up the guidelines. But until then, she said the diligence will continue.