Allegheny Valley School Board approves health, safety plan without contact tracing

Allegheny Valley School District students will not have to quarantine if they come in close contact with a student who tests positive for covid-19.

School board members voted 8-0 to approve the district’s health and safety plan, which eliminates contact tracing, during their meeting Tuesday, Aug. 16. Board member Jessica Griggle was absent.

One of the main concerns board members voiced during earlier meetings was how to handle contact tracing.

The board was presented two plans Tuesday by Superintendent Patrick Graczyk.

One plan included contract tracing, while the other did not. The board went with the second plan, as it closely follows the newest guidelines set by the CDC and the Allegheny County Health Department.

The CDC announced Aug. 11 it would be relaxing its covid-19 guidelines. The guidelines state that people no longer have to quarantine if they come into close contact with someone who has covid. The CDC also said people no longer have to abide by social distancing guidelines of staying 6 feet away from others.

Board Treasurer Steve Puskar asked whether the board would be able to revert back to contact tracing if the CDC were to reverse its decision.

“Let’s say the day after a board meeting, the CDC changes and we don’t have anything in the health and safety plan that allows us to revert to contract tracing,” Puskar said.

Solicitor Matthew Hoffman said the board will be able to make changes to the plan when needed.

Graczyk said the frustration with the situation in the past had more to do with quarantining than the contact tracing, itself. The school district wants to remain diligent in ensuring students’ health and safety, he said.

“So if we know if you had children in the school, we at least want to let you know, we believe your kids were exposed, and you want to monitor what was going on,” he said.

David Buchman, another board member, assured Puskar the CDC would not quickly revert back to contact tracing.

“The changes that they just announced between the last meeting and this meeting have been under discussion for three or four weeks now and were expected several weeks ago,” he said. “They’re not the quickest on their feet when it comes to making changes of that magnitude.”

Board President Larry Pollick said the district has reached a point where covid is not disrupting students’ education.

“From when it first began, it was terrible,” he said. “We had the virtual learning. It is an adjustment we will vote on today to allow our students a normal environment.”