PICKERINGTON, Ohio (WCMH) — Pickerington schools operate in a hybrid model in which 40 percent of students attend on Mondays and Tuesdays, 40 percent attend Thursdays and Fridays and a remote day on Wednesdays.

Quarantine numbers in the district are on the rise concerning both parents and employees.

“They say we’re essential but we’re not being treated like we’re essential,” said Joie Moore.

Moore works at Pickerington Central High School and is the president of the Pickerington Support Staff Association. She’s worried about the toll OVID-19 and quarantining are taking on employees like her.

“We have members now that are going on their second and third quarantines,” Moore said. “The federal CARES Act gave us 10 days of leave to be quarantined but now we have to use our own sick leave to quarantine.”

In addition to those 10 days, the district gives employees 10 to 15 days of sick leave each year and roll over days they did used in previous years. District Treasurer Ryan Jenkins says that is enough.

“Even if that individual were to use that 10 to 15 days, they’re carrying around an accumulated sick bank of days that they’ve earned in previous years that they have not burned,” Jenkins said.

According to Jenkins, employees can use up to 260 days from their sick bank in a single year, but the number of sick days accumulated is smaller for newer employees.

From November 28 to December 4, 133 students were quarantined and 10 percent of all staff in the district were absent for some reason. It’s why some parents, like Laura Duru, have their children in full remote learning.

“I think that would be reduced too if they weren’t doing the in-person classes,” Duru said.

Besides being a mom, Duru has been a medical assistant at a primary care office for more than 30 years.

“It’s not only affecting the teachers and the students, but it’s affecting all the families that they go home to,” Duru said. “I think they should go all remote and give us a chance to get the numbers under control.”

But Jenkins, who has 2 sons at Pickerington North High School, prefers in-person learning.

“I believe it’s critically important for children in their developmental years to have day-to-day contact with their teachers,” Jenkins said. “I don’t believe I’m subjecting my sons daily to anything that’s an extraordinary risk.”

Pickerington says it has had no confirmed cases of student to teacher or teacher to student transmission in any of its buildings. It has had a few situations where a student who was identified as a close contact with another student later tested positive.