The Northwest R-1 and Grandview R-2 school districts have reported that students and/or staff members have tested positive for COVID-19.
As of Friday (Sept. 4), the Northwest district had five students and one staff member who had tested positive for the virus, and the Grandview district had one staff member who had tested positive.
Northwest
Chuck McPherson, the Northwest district’s coordinator of communications and community relations, said one staff member from Northwest High School, two students from Northwest High, two students from Cedar Springs Elementary and one student from House Springs Elementary had tested positive for COVID-19.
Superintendent Desi Kirchhofer said in a letter on Friday that in addition to the one staff member and five students who tested positive for the virus, other staff members and students who may have been exposed to the virus had been quarantined.
McPherson said Friday that 108 students and 14 staff members were quarantined.
“While all the (positive COVID-19) cases appear to have been contracted outside of school, it still has a big impact on those who may have been exposed and have to quarantine,” Kirchhofer said.
Kirchhofer said in the letter that if a student is in close contact with a positive case the parents will receive a call from a health professional or the district’s director of health services, Ann Frankowski.
“Students identified as close contacts will be required to quarantine,” he said. “If your child has not been in direct contact but is a student at an impacted school, you will receive the form letter (about a positive case being identified).”
The first day of school for Northwest was Aug. 26.
Elementary school students either attend classes in person five days a week or learn from home online.
Students in middle school and high school either attend in-person classes two days a week and learn online at home the other three days, or the secondary students have instruction entirely online from home.
The Northwest district has about 6,180 students enrolled.
Kirchhofer said masks are being worn during the school days when necessary and social distancing is practiced.
“As always, we will continue to work in cooperation with the Health Department to monitor the community spread and the impact on our school community,” he said.
Grandview
The Grandview district reported that on Sept. 2 it received word that a high school staff member had tested positive COVID-19.
“The staff member had no contacts that fall under Health Department guidelines that warrant a need to quarantine students or staff,” the district reported on its Facebook page.
Grandview’s first day of school was Aug. 25.
The district, which has a four-day school week, has about 750 students enrolled.
About 80 percent of the students attend in-person classes Tuesday through Friday, and the rest are learning at home online, Superintendent Matt Zoph said.
Other schools
Positive COVID-19 cases also have been reported at St. Pius X High School in Crystal City, as well as in the Fox C-6, Windsor C-1, Festus R-6 and Rockwood school districts.
