During Tuesday’s meeting of the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly, Kenai Peninsula Borough School District (KPBSD) Superintendent John O’Brien walked the assembly through the district’s pandemic response plan, which has faced criticism from some members of the community who want in-person classes to resume.
O’Brien said that the Kenai Peninsula hit records on Saturday, Sunday and Tuesday in terms of the amount of daily COVID-19 cases reported. As of Tuesday, central, southern and eastern peninsula schools were all operating at high-risk level. On the central peninsula, O’Brien said, the 14-day case count is eight-and-a-half-times higher than the number of cases that would put schools at high-risk level. The southern peninsula’s 14-day case count was three-times higher than the number of cases that put schools at high-risk level, as was the eastern peninsula’s.
Since Oct. 14, O’Brien said, there have been 29 positive COVID-19 cases among staff. Through contact tracing, 31 other staff members were put in quarantine per CDC guidelines. Eleven additional staff members were identified as close contacts of individuals outside of the district’s system who tested positive.
“When you add all of those up, in less than a month we’ve had over 71 staff members who have either tested positive or been close contacts of individuals who have tested positive,” O’Brien said. “That’s a significant number of our staff in a period of time of less than a month where we have not even had students, for the most part, in our schools with the exception of our pre-kindergarten students, our kindergarten students and our intensive needs students.”
In the same period of time, O’Brien said, 13 students have tested positive for COVID-19. As a result, 93 students have had to quarantine for 14 days after being identified as close contacts. O’Brien said that the district has verified one case of in-school COVID-19 transmission, and that they believe low transmission is due in part to their strong mitigation plan.
“We do have concerns that if schools were wide open and all students were in school at this point in time — we know particularly in working with our colleagues up in the Mat-Su Borough School District — that we would have not only more cases of in-school transmission, but many, many more cases where students and staff would have to be placed under 14-day quarantine,” O’Brien said.
O’Brien said they are in the process of evaluating the district’s plans to possibly bring students back for on-site learning while schools are at high-risk level, and that the process is going to be collaborative and labor intensive. O’Brien said that when they have a plan they will present it to the board of education for their consideration, but that the 14-day case counts are “very concerning” to him and to the district’s medical advisors.
“My recommendation to the board at that point in time would be, once we’re at a point where numbers are coming down, where we’re seeing better trends rather than the doubling of trends that we’ve been seeing here recently, that could be a time where we could implement any type of change to our current pandemic or Smart Start plan,” O’Brien said.
In determining whether to reopen a school to on-site learning, the district and their Medical Advisory Team analyze 14-day positive case counts, analyze the seven-day positivity trend, consult with medical providers and public health and review their school decision matrix.
Currently, 34 district schools are operating remotely through at least Nov. 13.
Susan B. English School in Seldovia resumed on-site learning Monday. The school first began remote learning on Oct. 27 after the district confirmed a positive COVID-19 case in the community. Cooper Landing School, Hope School, Nanwalek School, Port Graham School and Tebughna School are also currently operating at low-risk levels.
DHSS created risk levels as part of a plan to reopen long-term care facilities to visitors, but DHSS says risk levels also can be used to inform decisions by other entities, including schools, institutions of higher learning and businesses.
During 100% remote learning, Get-It and Go meals are free for all students and can be picked up daily at school. Pre-K, kindergarten and special education intensive needs students can still attend classes in person during 100% remote learning.
Operational risk levels, case incidence rates and case numbers by community are updated daily on the district’s risk levels dashboard at covid19.kpbsd.org/dashboard.
Central Peninsula — High Risk: The central peninsula, or Kenai, Nikiski, Soldotna, Sterling and “other North,” had 61 resident cases reported by the state Wednesday for a total of 472 cases in the last 14 days.
The central peninsula is high risk when there are 52 or more cases in the last 14 days, medium risk when there are 51 to 26 cases in the last 14 days, and low risk when there are 25 or fewer cases in the last 14 days.
100% remote learning will continue for central peninsula schools through at least Nov. 13. As of Wednesday, the central peninsula will need to lose 421 cases from its 14-day case count for schools to drop back into medium risk.
Central peninsula schools include Aurora Borealis Charter School, K-Beach Elementary, Kaleidoscope School of Arts and Sciences, Kenai Alternative School, Kenai Central High School, Kenai Middle School, Marathon School, Mountain View Elementary, Nikiski Middle-High School, Nikiski North Star Elementary, Redoubt Elementary, River City Academy, Skyview Middle School, Soldotna Elementary School, Soldotna High School, Soldotna Montessori Charter School, Sterling Elementary and Tustumena Elementary.
Southern Peninsula — High Risk: The southern peninsula, or Homer, Fritz Creek, Anchor Point and “other South,” had three resident cases reported by the state Wednesday for a total of 49 cases in the last 14 days.
The southern peninsula is at high risk when there are 20 or more cases in the last 14 days, medium risk when there are 19 to 10 cases in the last 14 days, and low risk when there are nine cases or fewer in the last 14 days.
100% remote learning will continue for southern peninsula schools through at least Nov. 13. As of Wednesday, the southern peninsula will need to lose 30 cases from its 14-day case count for schools to drop back into medium risk.
Southern peninsula schools include Chapman School, Fireweed Academy, Homer Flex School, Homer High School, Kachemak Selo School, McNeil Canyon Elementary, Nikolaevsk School, Ninilchik School, Paul Banks Elementary, Razdolna School, Voznesenka School and West Homer Elementary.
Eastern Peninsula — High Risk: The eastern peninsula, or Seward, had two resident cases reported by the state Wednesday for a total of 20 cases in the last 14 days.
The eastern peninsula is at high risk when there are eight or more cases in the last 14 days, medium risk when there are four to seven cases in the last 14 days, and low risk when there are three or fewer cases in the last 14 days.
100% remote learning will for eastern peninsula schools will continue through at least Nov. 13. As of Wednesday, the eastern peninsula will need to lose 13 cases from its 14-day case count for schools to drop back into medium risk.
Eastern peninsula schools include Moose Pass School, Seward Elementary, Seward High School and Seward Middle School.
Reach reporter Ashlyn O’Hara at ashlyn.ohara@peninsulaclarion.com.
