Thirteen southern Kenai Peninsula schools will close Tuesday for at least a week due to the rising risk of COVID-19 in the area, leaving most of the borough’s schools closed.
The Kenai Peninsula Borough School District announced Monday that the 13 schools, all in the southern part of the Peninsula, will shift to remote learning for at least a week starting Tuesday. Only pre-kindergarten, kindergarten and high-needs special education students will be able to attend in-person classes.
Dozens of other schools in the district have also closed in recent weeks due to rising COVD-19 case numbers. As of Tuesday, “virtually all” of the district’s 42 schools will be closed, district spokeswoman Pegge Erkeneff said. Seventeen schools in the central Kenai Peninsula area switched to remote learning last week. Just a few small schools in remote communities will remain open, she said.
Superintendent John O’Brien said in a statement that shifting to remote learning means that there will be fewer large groups of people congregating, which helps the entire community mitigate the spread of the virus.
“Even with our mitigation plans, we have seen an exponential growth of positive cases in our schools this past week,” O’Brien said. “My hope is that we can slow the spread, and reopen schools as soon as is safely possible.”
There are several positive cases reported each week connected with the district’s schools, Erkeneff said in the announcement. Contact tracing is performed for each case, she said. The district reviews the state’s COVID-19 data, which is showing an upward trend in cases in the area.
The district has more than 100 people quarantined after being exposed to the coronavirus, Erkeneff said. Two positive cases were confirmed Monday in two different schools, forcing more people to quarantine, she said.
Three schools in the southern part of the district will remain open to on-site learning because there are no positive COVID-19 cases in the communities, which are only accessible by boat or plane, Erkeneff said.
Erkeneff said that on Friday the district will again evaluate the number of cases and community trends and consult with its medical advisory team and public health experts to determine whether any schools can reopen next week.
All schools in Seward and Moose Pass have been closed since Oct. 9. But if there are no new cases of the coronavirus in the area this week, it is possible that the schools could open for in-person school next Monday, she said.
Here are the schools on the southern Kenai Peninsula that are closing Tuesday:
· Chapman School
· Fireweed Academy
· Homer Flex School
· Homer High School
· Homer Middle School
· Kachemak Selo School
· McNeil Canyon Elementary School
· Nikolaevsk School
· Ninilchik School
· Paul Banks Elementary School
· Razdolna School
· Voznesenka School
· West Homer Elementary School