Saxony plans to use 'Stoplight' coronavirus-alert system

Saxony Lutheran High School is using the familiar sight of signalized traffic intersections in its coronavirus-driven back-to-school plan this fall.

The private school affiliated with the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod will use the colors green, yellow and red as an alert system for teachers, staff and families about the spread of COVID-19.

“A stoplight is the best scenario we could come up with,” said Saxony’s Mark Ruark, beginning his eighth year as principal.

A green light means zero cases of COVID-19 at Saxony and yellow means a few cases have been reported via the Cape Girardeau County Public Health Center, requiring heightened precautions.

Green and yellow alerts would allow the high school to continue operating, Ruark said.

“A red light indicates a substantial (coronavirus) spread and we would temporarily shut down (Saxony) until the crisis is over,” he said.

Ruark credits his assistant principal, Missy Adams, for exhaustively researching options.

“(Adams) came up with a simple and easy to understand (three-level) plan,” said Ruark, whose school aims to educate an estimated 222 students in the 2020-2021 academic year, which begins Aug. 20.

Saxony Lutheran has been in operation 21 years, the last 17 of them at its current 40-acre campus in Fruitland near Exit 105 of Interstate 55.

Saxony’s original location was rented premises inside St. Andrew Lutheran Church in Cape Girardeau, where the school serving grades nine through 12 started in the 1999-2000 academic year.

Peak enrollment was 240, achieved in 2018.

“Overall, (Saxony) is growing,” said Ruark, who noted that just five years ago, the school had 183 students attending.