Highlands closes high school in response to 'significant' covid outbreak
Highlands School District said Wednesday it is closing its high school for the rest of the week because of an outbreak of covid-19 cases.
The announcement comes about a week after students were brought back to buildings under the district’s hybrid schedule Jan. 19, after moving all students to remote instruction Dec. 1.
The district did not provide details on how many cases were at the school or if they involved students or staff. The outbreak was described as “significant and/or widespread.”
The district said it is following guidelines issued by the state Department of Education in temporarily closing the high school.
“As a result, the high school only will move to full remote learning for the remainder of the week,” the district said in a notice on its website. “This will allow time for cleaning areas where cases may have spent time and for public health staff to conduct contact tracing.”
The high school is scheduled to return to its hybrid schedule Feb. 1.
The district is surveying parents of kindergarten students about a proposal to have only kindergarten students attend school in-person for half-days four days a week.
The district has asked parents of kindergarten students to complete the survey by Friday.
Brian C. Rittmeyer, a Pittsburgh native and graduate of Penn State University's Schreyer Honors College, has been with the Trib since December 2000. He can be reached at brittmeyer@triblive.com.
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