Penn Hills Elementary closes after 4 more covid cases in a week

Penn Hills Elementary School will close its campus a week after to reopening to students because four people associated with the school tested positive for covid-19, district officials said Sunday.

The Allegheny County Health Department advised the school to switch to all-virtual learning for at least a week, according to an “urgent” update posted online by Penn Hills School District Superintendent Nancy Hines.

Officials did not say whether the people infected with covid were students, teachers or other affiliates or staff members.

Students had just returned last week to a hybrid model during which they alternate days of in-person and online classes in cohorts. The first hybrid cohort of students had classes in person on Monday, and another group returned to the school buildings on Thursday.

District officials anticipate that students in cohort A will resume their scheduled hybrid learning plan at the elementary school on Tuesday, Jan. 19, and cohort B students will resume in-person classes on Thursday, Jan. 21.

Staff have been told to “report as usual during this timeframe,” Hines said.

“We thank everyone in advance for your cooperation,” the superintendent wrote in Sunday’s online statement.

Plans to have more Penn Hills School District students attend in-person classes four days a week ground to a halt in late November as covid cases climbed within the district and the surrounding area.

By mid-December, as coronavirus cases surged in Allegheny County and across the country, the Penn Hills area’s covid positivity rates ranked among the highest in the region’s eastern suburbs.

Students in first through 12th grade have been directed to remain in the hybrid model through the end of the year — though the Penn Hills school board expects to review educational options again later this month.

Urgent Superintendent Update - 1/10/2021 - Due to four confirmed cases of Covid-19 among PHSD affiliates associated with Penn Hills Elementary School, the Allegheny County Health Department has advised the conversion to remote learn https://t.co/x7jcRjoSMh pic.twitter.com/6fMhzu1vMW

— PHSD (@PennHillsSD) January 10, 2021