ELIZABETHTOWN, Pa. — Editor's Note: The above video is from Oct. 17.
The Elizabethtown Area School District announced its middle and high school students will switch to a remote learning model this week after a presumptive case and a confirmed positive case of COVID-19 was discovered at the high school last Friday.
Students at both schools will learn remotely on Monday and Tuesday, the district said.
The decision was made based on guidance from the Pennsylvania Dept. of Health and the school district's physician, the announcement said.
All extracurricular activities including athletic events (practices and contests) will be postponed on Monday, the district said.
"It is our hope to resume our extracurriculars on Tuesday, depending upon the outcome of testing and contact tracing," the district added.
All in-person instruction at the other schools in the district continued as planned on Monday, the district said.
"This decision was not made lightly," the district said. "In working with our healthcare experts to make this decision, the following factors were considered:
- Volume of contact tracing associated with the most recent cases.
- Total number of cases at the secondary level.
- Spike in cases at the county level.
- Spike in cases within the zip code of our school district.
"Even though this move to online impacts our older student population, which is considered to be more capable of working independently, we recognize this may still create hardships for our families. We also understand it is disappointing for students who want to be at school for both in-person learning and competing/practicing on our playing fields and in our gym."
Secondary students enrolled in EASD Online and the district's LLVS program are not affected by the temporary building closure and were instructed log on Monday as they would any other day, the district said.
Full-time Lancaster County Career and Technology Center students were instructed to report to their campus as they normally would, while morning and afternoon CTC students were told to attend their EAHS class virtually but not attend their CTC classes, according to the district.
"All 7-12 professional and instructionally based support staff will also be working remotely over the next two days," the district said. "These staff members will be available to support students through their school-issued email and Schoology accounts. The middle school and high school offices, as well as the high school counseling will remain open; however, the remainder of the buildings will be closed."
The district said it strongly encourages students and staff to practice social distancing, wear masks in public, and monitor their health to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
"Following the health protocols that are currently in place will help to keep our schools/ district open for in-person instruction and students to be able to continue with their extracurricular activities," the district said. "We will continue to work closely with our local health officials to identify all individuals who had close contact with the persons who are positive and presumptive positive for COVID-19. If you do not hear directly from the District, then your child was not deemed to have had close contact in the school setting."
Close contact is defined by the medical experts as being within six feet for fifteen minutes or more of the individual who has tested positive for COVID-19, the district said.