FACTORYVILLE, Pa. — The news of a teacher's positive test for the coronavirus came back just as the school day was beginning at Lackawanna Trail. This was something school district officials say they were prepared for.
The Lackawanna Trail School District is about a month into the school year, where all students are back to in-class learning with the exception of those students who chose to do virtual school.
The teacher with COVID-19 is the district's second positive case, and the superintendent says the district knew how to proceed by quarantining anyone who came in contact with that teacher.
"That included the students in that class. That teacher is also a coach, one of the assistant volleyball coaches, so everyone on that volleyball team was contacted, and immediate protocol calls for them being quarantined," said Lackawanna Trail Superintendent Matt Rakauskas.
Rakauskas says there are over 50 people in quarantine, including members of the volleyball team. Two of the students also in quarantine are vo-tech students, so they had to extend the contact tracing.
"The chain is not just within the Lackawanna Trail school community. It's with Elk Lake. It's with superintendents from around who would be close contacts, of close contacts of our students. That's not necessarily part of the protocol, but we like to do that as a professional courtesy to be as transparent as we can possibly can."
Maggie Reppa is a senior at Lackawanna Trail. She says she was nervous when she first heard the news this morning but feels confident that being in school is her best option.
"For safety, obviously, we need to be a little bit overcautious, but I do think it has to stop somewhere. We've all been exposed to someone who's been exposed to someone, however many layers down," Maggie Reppa said.
"I think they're doing exactly what they should do like I'm not concerned that it's like a bigger deal than it needs to be," said parent Penny Reppa.
"We will continue to stay open in teaching in our classrooms and virtually. We've done a great job. Our maintenance staff has done an incredible job cleaning and disinfecting and sanitizing these buildings every night," Rakauskas added.
The superintendent also says they have contacted the two school districts that the volleyball team played against most recently as a courtesy. Lackawanna Trail plans to postpone any games that were already scheduled for the team for the next two weeks.