Three Hempfield Area schools will temporarily close after several positive covid-19 cases were reported among staff and students, district leaders announced.
Students at Wendover Middle, Harrold Middle and Fort Allen Elementary will attend classes remotely Tuesday, giving officials time to conduct contact tracing and to mitigate further spread of the virus. According to an online tracker, there are two positive cases at Wendover and three cases each at Harrold and Fort Allen.
Students at all three schools will return to in-person classes Wednesday. Elementary students in the district are attending in-person classes five days a week while secondary students are following the hybrid model, or a mix on in-person and online learning.
Free meals will be available to students, which can be picked up at Harrold and Wendover between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. Families at Fort Allen can pick up meals at the Cyber Center, located at 3740 Route 136, between those same times.
This is the second time Wendover will close since students returned from holiday break earlier this month. West Hempfield Middle School was also closed last week due to positive cases.
There are 16 active cases in the district, 10 of which are students and six are staffers. In addition to the cases at Wendover, Harrold and Fort Allen, six are at the high school and there is one case at both Maxwell and West Hempfield elementary schools. West Hempfield Middle School has no cases, according to the tracker.
Several staffers are quarantining after being identified as close contacts. Of the 19 staffers in quarantine, four are from Fort Allen, two from Harrold, two from the high school, one from Stanwood Elementary, two from Wendover, two from West Point Elementary and three each from West Hempfield Elementary and West Hempfield Middle School.
Since Jan. 1, the district has had 29 active cases, of which 17 were students and 12 were staffers.
According to Superintendent Tammy Wolicki, any positive cases should be reported to school nurses, principals or to Lisa Maloney, supervisor of pupil services at the district.
