New Kensington-Arnold immediately closing schools, cites rise in covid-19

New Kensington-Arnold School District announced Thursday it is immediately closing all district schools because of an increase in local incidents of covid-19 transmission.

All students will be moved to fully remote instruction from Friday through next Wednesday, Nov. 25, according to acting Superintendent Jon Banko.

The district’s Thanksgiving break runs from Thursday, Nov. 26 through Monday, Nov. 30, according to the district calendar.

“This decision has been made in response to the continued rise in local covid-19 numbers, a staff member at H.D. Berkey testing positive for covid-19, and a number of students required to quarantine due to positive covid tests, or positive tests among family members,” Banko said in a message to district families.

Banko said the state Health Department was consulted and he has personally spoken with everyone who is considered an immediate risk.

“If I did not contact you directly, your child is not considered at risk for infection through their attendance at school,” he said.

Banko said the district will follow the same procedures as it had during the week of Nov. 2, which the district did in response to the state Department of Education recommending Westmoreland County districts move to fully remote instruction to mitigate the spread of the virus.

Teachers will implement the remote instruction program through Microsoft Teams.

Transportation will be provided for students attending Northern Westmoreland Career & Technology Center.

Cafeteria staff will distribute weekend meals from 8-8:45 a.m. at Valley Junior-Senior High School and from 9-9:45 a.m. at Roy A. Hunt Elementary.

Banko said the district hopes to bring students back to schools after Thanksgiving. “We’ll re-evaluate next week,” he said.

For most of the 2020-21 school year, the district has been operating with students either fully in-school or fully remote.

“The health and safety of our entire school community has been considered with this decision,” Banko said. “It is understood that it will create some difficulties for families, so we hope to return all of our students to school as quickly as is reasonably safe.”