November 01, 2024
Local News

Eight students in the Genoa-Kingston school district tested positive for COVID-19 last week amid switch to remote learning

By Eddie Carifio

Students exit Genoa-Kingston High School Aug. 31 after finishing up their first day of in-person classes. School District 424 is using a hybrid schedule with a full remote option to start the year. (Mark Busch)

In his weekly COVID-19 report, Genoa-Kingston Superintendent Brent O’Daniell said there were eight students who tested positive in the district last week.

Last week, O'Daniell announced the school would be going remote from its hybrid model last Tuesday, and a day later he announced the remote learning would last through Friday, Nov. 6, as opposed to Oct. 30 as initially planned.

O’Daniell said he also couldn’t address particular cases or social media rumors about what led to the shutdown.

“That’s tough to comment on,” O’Daniell said. “I can tell you that we didn’t feel like we could operate at an effective and safe level last week and this week and that’s why we made the decision we did.”

O’Daniell said the plan is still to return next week.

“Obviously we’re monitoring everything on a daily basis,” O’Daniell said. “But the plan is to come back Monday in the hybrid plan we had before.”

Two staff members also tested positive last week according to the report. The number of positive students in the district nearly doubled, from 11 between July 1 until Oct. 24. That number is now at 19 total cases in students.

There have been 12 total cases in staff members. Last week, there are 24 quarantined staff and 22 quarantined students.

O’Daniell said he was proud of the way shifted to remote learning with little warning.

“Of course they were nervous on the front end, we didn’t give them much time because the call went out around 6 p.m. that the next day would be full remote,” O’Daniell said. “They rallied together and if I know my staff they worked all through the night. But they were ready to rock and roll and the next morning.”

O’Daniell said that he’s heard positive feedback from the community so far.

The cases came amid a countywide surge of cases, in which 120 cases alone were announced on Friday, obliterating the single-day record for the county. October accounted for about 25% of all COVID-19 cases in the county to date.