Moss Side Middle School in the Gateway School District is closed for five days after a second staff member tested positive for covid-19 on Sunday.
It is the fourth instance of covid-19 in the district this week and the second at Moss Side.
Assistant Superintendent Dennis Chakey posted a letter to Gateway families on the district website, saying that Moss Side Middle School students will engage in full-time remote learning this week.
“Unfortunately, this is the second staff member within Moss Side Middle School that has tested positive within a 14-day period,” the letter said. “As a result, our district will adhere to the guidelines set forth by the Pennsylvania Department of Health (DOH) and the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE).”
Those guidelines include shutting down for five days for schools in counties with moderate levels of community transmission and with two to four students or staff in the same building who have covid-19.
On Sept. 23, Chakey alerted the school community to its first Moss Side staff member ill with the coronavirus. That adult had not been in the building since Sept. 18 and was quarantining, Chakey said.
Through contact tracing, the district found the person had come in contact with one other individual. The district’s letter did not specify whether the person was a district employee or student. That person is now required to quarantine for 14 days.
The Allegheny County Health Department defines close contact as someone who was within 6 feet of an infected person for at least 15 minutes starting from two days before the illness until the time of quarantine.
Four days later, the district was forced to shut down the high school for five days after announcing two students tested positive for the virus. The positive testing also canceled a highly anticipated football game against Pine-Richland and other sporting events.
School Board President Mary Beth Cirucci is hopeful that the health department begins to look at other factors, such as hospitalizations and mortality rates, regarding school shut downs.
“I feel that the current metric is unrealistic and that keeping our kids out of the classroom is detrimental to their learning as well as their social and emotional health,” Cirucci said. “We need to find a better way to educate our children while still protecting the vulnerable. Remote instruction is not the answer.”
With the Moss Side shutdown, Chakey said students are recommended to log into Zoom for each scheduled class while the building is being sanitized.
The district is conducting contact tracing to figure out if anyone else might be compromised.
“The health and safety of our students and staff remains our top priority,” Chakey wrote. “We will remain committed to keeping all members of our school community informed to ensure a safe and secure environment for all.”
