Superintendent: Greater Latrobe no longer bound by strict school closure benchmarks

Greater Latrobe School District officials say they’ll have greater flexibility in assessing the need for covid-related school closures now that Westmoreland County has completed two consecutive weeks in the moderate level for community transmission of the coronavirus.

According to Superintendent Georgia Teppert, the county’s return to a moderate transmission level after many weeks at substantial levels means the district no longer is bound by a state-determined minimum number of covid cases requiring closure of schools that offer some level of in-person instruction.

Under those benchmarks — which did not result in any closure at Greater Latrobe — the senior high would have been subject to closure if 10 covid cases were reported in a given 14-day period. At the junior high and the three elementary buildings, just six cases at each of those schools would have triggered a closure.

Under those guidelines, Teppert said Tuesday, it didn’t matter whether covid cases occurred among students, teachers or support staff, or who came into close contact with someone who tested positive.

While the strict state benchmarks no longer apply, Teppert said the district will continue to track “the number of cases, but we’ll also look at how they were transmitted and the location — if it was building-specific, grade level-specific or classroom-specific.”

She said the district still will have a covid-19 dashboard on its website to report the number of positive cases at each building.

As of 4 p.m. Tuesday, the district reported two covid cases each at the junior high and Mountain View Elementary and one case each at the senior high and Baggaley Elementary.

Westmoreland was at the moderate level of transmission — with less than 100 covid-19 cases reported per 100,000 residents — for the weeks ending Feb. 5 and Feb. 12.

Teppert noted this is the fourth week when Greater Latrobe elementary students have been allowed to return to school five days per week and the second week for full-time classroom instruction of secondary students.

Having a majority of district bus drivers and staff receive the Moderna covid-19 vaccine was a factor in resuming classroom instruction.

Teppert noted the staff and drivers are scheduled to received a second dose of the vaccine on Saturday and Feb. 27.

All students will receive remote instruction on the Mondays following those dates “just in case there would be staff members with side effects,” she said.