MASON, Ohio — Whether sick or not, thousands of students are being quarantined because of COVID-19. Just weeks into the school year, one student said a recent quarantine marks his eighth time.

What You Need To Know

  • Mason High School senior Gavin Legault said he's been quarantined eight times during the last year

  • Legault said he's never tested positive for COVID-19 but was told he was exposed to the virus

  • His family is backing a plan from the school district that would allow healthy kids who were exposed to come back to class with two negative tests and a mask

Just when high school senior Gavin Legault thought he could go to school, he was quarantined again. 

“I get real upset, but there’s nothing really I can do about it,” said Legault. 

So far, he’s been sent home from Mason High School eight times; seven times last school year, and once again quarantined this school year.

He said he’s never been sick.

“All they would tell you is that you’re quarantined, and what days you were able to come back,” said Legault. 

He said he’s spent more time at home being healthy than in school during the last year and has been struggling to keep up.

“I was a straight 'A' student, and I was getting 'B’s and I ended up getting a 'C' cause I was quarantined so much," he said, "So I’m sitting at home looking at a screen, and it’s hard for me to learn that way.”

His mom, Sara Legault, an elementary school teacher, said it was hard for her to keep up, too.

“They were taking AP and honors, just a lot of the courses that I'm just not familiar enough, and my husband enough, to give them the information the way they would receive it in the classroom,” said Sara Legault. 

She said they eventually got a tutor to help her son catch up, but she also has two other kids who’ve been in and out of school, too.

“Hopefully, with this new quarantine policy, it will ease that anxiety of every day ‘am I going to get a phone call that my child is quarantined today,’” said Sara Legault. 

That new quarantine policy is a proposal from the Mason City Schools superintendent, which if approved, would mean healthy kids who’ve been exposed may stay in school, with a mask and negative COVID-19 test. 

The plan would be a pilot program, but has not been finalized yet. 

Gavin Legault said he hopes it happens sooner than later as he makes his way back from yet another quarantine. 

“This year started off on the wrong foot,” Gavin Legault said. “But it’s God’s plan and there’s a reason for everything.”