Forty-two students at Grant and Weddle elementary schools have moved to online classes through Oct. 11 because of student illnesses.
The quarantine includes a second grade classroom at Weddle with 19 students and a first grade classroom at Grant with 23 students, district spokesman Aaron Harada said. Families were notified of the quarantine Wednesday at Grant and Tuesday at Weddle.
One student in the Weddle classroom tested positive for Covid, Harada said. Enough of the student’s classmates were identified as close contacts that the school district’s health authority made the decision to move the entire class online.
“This is being done out of an abundance of caution due to possible exposure to a recently diagnosed case of Covid-19,” Harada said.
No students in the Grant classroom have tested positive for Covid, Harada said. The class was quarantined because at least six students were recently out of school sick with symptoms including a cough.
The district’s communicable disease management plan calls for schools to notify a district nurse if more than 20% of a class is ill. Harada said the district’s health authority made the decision to quarantine the class.
The classrooms are the second and third within the Salem-Keizer School District to move to online classes because of illness since the school year began Sept. 7. A kindergarten class at Chapman Hill Elementary School was moved online following one student case of Covid in the classroom and has since returned.
Harada said two district preschool classes have also moved online because of a Covid exposure in the classroom. One at Hallman Elementary has since resumed in-person, and a class at the East Salem Community Center will be online until Oct. 11.
The district last week reported 89 students newly diagnosed with Covid who were inside a school while infectious, and 244 students ordered to quarantine because of exposure in class. A district data dashboard showing Covid infections is updated weekly here.
About 39,000 district students are attending classes in person this year.
If you’re a parent or guardian for a student in a class that’s been quarantined, Salem Reporter would like to hear how the shift to online has changed your work or childcare arrangements. Contact reporter Rachel Alexander at [email protected].
-Rachel Alexander
