MCB CAMP LEJEUNE -- Marine Corps Installations East-Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune Deputy Commander Col. Todd Ferry addressed Department of Defense Education Activity school nurses and administrators during a COVID-19 table top exercise on Aug. 20,2019 at the Marine Corps Community Services Behavioral Health building at Midway Park. Camp Lejeune Community Schools representatives and Naval Medical Center Camp Lejeune staff were there to build on the successful partnership of last school year where the seven Camp Lejeune community schools were able to open to K-12 students, five days per week with zero cases of school transmission. During the 2020-21 school year, the district became a model for best practices across the DoDEA school system.
The purpose of the exercise was to review effective past practices and look at new factors that will challenge teachers and leaders this year, including the COVID-19 Delta variant that is more contagious and infecting more school-aged children than the original virus. Col. Ferry and acting superintendent Leigh Anne Kapiko Faulkner said keeping schools open is a readiness issue for the operational troops and commended the nurses and administrators for their roles in limiting the spread of the virus within the school buildings.
DoDEA schools will return to school on Monday, Aug. 23 with a mask mandate for all personnel and students, as well as a well-trained and experienced staff ready to respond to COVID-19 cases and close contacts.