CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19) RESOURCE CENTER Read More
Add To Favorites

Beaver Area School District suspends in-person learning at two buildings following COVID-19 outbreak

Beaver County Times - 9/13/2021

Sep. 13—BEAVER — After two weeks in school for the start of the 2021-22 school year, the Beaver Area School District has suspended in-person learning for one week at the high school and Dutch Ridge Elementary following a significant increase in COVID-19 cases at the two buildings.

Beaver Area becomes the first district in the county to suspend in-person learning after returning to school in late August.

The move to virtual learning for the week of Sept. 13-17 comes as new coronavirus cases leaped in Pennsylvania in the week ending Sunday, rising 12.8% as 28,016 cases were reported. The previous week had 24,839 new cases of the virus that causes COVID-19.

In Beaver County, the county reported 608 cases and seven deaths in the latest week, an increase of 34.2%. A week earlier, it had reported 453 cases and eight deaths. Throughout the pandemic, it has reported 17,851 cases and 415 deaths.

According to the COVID-19 dashboard for the Beaver Area School District, 62 students and seven staff members have tested positive for COVID-19, while another 110 students and five staff members are currently quarantined.

"Any time we're going to change the instructional model, it's going to be something that's done with a lot of forethought," said Carrie Rowe, district superintendent. "We were watching the numbers climb since the first day of school...the Department of Health recommends suspending in-person instruction when the number of COVID-positive cases exceeds 5% of that building's population. We knew we were quickly approaching that number and needed to do something."

Of the 62 students, 31 are at the high school and 21 are at Dutch Ridge Elementary. Confirmed or presumed positive COVID19 cases are in isolation and do not count in the quarantine count for the district, according to the dashboard.

"The high school and Dutch Ridge Elementary have seen a previously unimaginable number of COVID19 positive students over the 14 days that we have been in school," the districts wrote in a news release. "The number of COVID-19 positive students and staff in these two buildings over the past 14 days has now exceeded the threshold at which closure is recommended by the PA Department of Health."

The district added that it plans on having students and staff at the high school and Dutch Elementary return to in-person learning on Sept. 20, though that date could change depending on the case outlook moving forward this week.

"Certainly, we are not going to resume in-person until it's safe to do so," Rowe said. "We do perceive that the five days is appropriate because it is bookmarked by a weekend on either side, so the lack of contact for students and staff is nine total days. We know that quarantine and isolation is limited to 10 days now, so we perceive that this suspension will help get our numbers back under control.

"At the beginning of this year, we told the community that the goal was to stay in in-person instruction as long as it was safe to do so," she added. "We are going to take all the precautions necessary, and we have found that while some people are disappointed and inconvenienced with the suspension, they appreciate the fact that we are keeping their kids safe and understand that this loss in the short term will yield long-term benefits, allowing us to stay in school longer this year."

The COVID-19 outbreak in the district comes during the same timeframe in which Beaver Area athletics were postponed a week due to the outbreak, forcing the football team to cancel a road game with Blackhawk Sept. 3, and the boys and girls soccer teams to cancel a home game against Freedom Sept. 4.

Rowe stated that Beaver Area athletics will continue despite the high school suspending in-person learning for the week.

"We believe that the outbreak that we saw in our sports teams, particularly football, we've identified students through contact tracing, and they've fulfilled quarantine," she said. "We feel that it's safe to continue, and we are doing so while being very clear with each school that we face about what's going on within our program."

Contact Joshua Carney at jcarney@gannett.com or 412-228-9178. Follow Joshua on Twitter: @ByJoshCarney

___

(c)2021 the Beaver County Times (Beaver, Pa.)

Visit the Beaver County Times (Beaver, Pa.) at www.timesonline.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.