St. Regis School plays waiting game after positive COVID-19 test

Editor's note: Andrew Sanford is a student at St. Regis School.

By ANDREW SANFORD

St. Regis School District received notification that as of Oct. 12, no students who have been tested for COVID-19 have a positive result.

Six potentially exposed students were contacted by the health department on Oct. 8 and quarantined until Oct. 21.

The health department only provides notification of positive cases, so administration has been keeping in touch with parents on those test results.

“The results of the tests will ultimately decide whether or not we shut down the entire school, or maybe just the secondary school, but we’re hoping not to close the school at all.”

Superintendent Joe Steele said “For now though, it’s just a waiting game to see if the close contacts develop symptoms.”

The school was notified of a staff member’s positive test on Oct. 8. Even though the staff member has not been in school since Oct. 6, Steele said St. Regis School administration is taking all the necessary measures to maintain the safety of their students and other staff.

“Once we received word that the staff member’s test came back positive we followed protocol and contacted the Mineral County Health Department,” Steele said. “They asked me to go over the staff member’s classroom layout which included seating arrangements for all classes

that the staff member teaches. From here the Mineral County Health Department contacted the families of certain students who needed to quarantine and in turn get tested.”

One of the precautions was to close the half-time kindergarten class as both adults in the classroom have children who have been quarantined.

St. Regis K-12 is a small school, and now that one of its occupants has tested positive for COVID-19 the impact could be devastating. Steps have been taken by the School District to combat a potential outbreak. These steps include opening windows for increased ventilation, using HEPA air purifiers in all classrooms, and nightly sanitizing of the entire school. Students

are also temperature checked and provided hand sanitizer before entering the building or getting on a bus.

Even with all these precautions, potential closure of the school is still on the mind of most students. Friday afternoon Superintendent Steele expressed the importance of keeping the school open.

“We know we need to keep the school open,” Steele said. “Our students need face-to-face education that distanced learning cannot provide.”