COVID-19 In Allegheny County: School Districts Working Quickly To Better Accommodate Students Learning From Home Again
ALLEGHENY COUNTY (KDKA) -- Thursday marks a week since students in the South Allegheny School District started school, and two kids in the middle school have already tested positive for the coronavirus.
The superintendent told KDKA's Amy Wadas that between 20 to 30 kids were sent home after they were exposed on Monday. And because of this, the district is changing the way it's doing at-home instruction.
"My son had a mask on. The individual who tested positive did not have a mask on," said South Allegheny parent Kira Shaw.
Shaw said her 11-year-old son Greyson was one of the kids exposed to COVID-19 by a fellow classmate. She said she never got an alert saying her son needed to quarantine. On top of that, she's concerned about him working independently on his lessons from home.
"He has to know what assignments he's responsible for. There's not a calendar that shows this is due today like there was in elementary school," said Shaw. "He's an in-person learner and needs lessons from a live teacher."
The district notified KDKA that starting on Friday, it's re-implementing its live remote instruction for the kids who have to quarantine due to COVID-19 exposure. These are decisions many districts could likely face as the school year gets underway.
Right now, Carlynton School District plans to keep its current plans in place.
"We will provide hard copy paperwork for students. If a teacher has a Google Classroom set up and active online, a child would be able to interact with asynchronous learning where activities are posted online," said Carlynton Superintendent John Kreider.
However, the district could also opt for remote live instruction if COVID-19 cases start popping up.
As far as deciding who has to quarantine and who doesn't, Superintendent Kreider said it partly depends on vaccination status.
"It all depends on if a student was masked, if they're vaccinated. There's a flow chart to help with our guidance," said Kreider. "We don't send a whole class home, especially if in a masked environment."
Other local districts are following similar guidance. Leaders are encouraging parents to stay up to date on the health and safety guidelines.
Meantime, South Allegheny said it's taking the blame when it comes to parents not being notified that their child was exposed Monday, saying officials weren't made aware of the two students who tested positive until after school on Tuesday.