NewsLocal NewsNorth County News

Actions

Vista Unified School District passes new rules for schools with COVID-19 cases

vista_unified_school_district.jpg
Posted at 12:26 AM, Oct 28, 2020
and last updated 2020-10-28 09:13:38-04

VISTA, Calif. (KGTV) - The Vista Unified School District's school board on Tuesday passed new rules for its middle and high schools seeing cases of COVID-19

In a special meeting, the school board discussed a staffing issue that’s occurred since reopening for in-person learning last week.

There have been at least four confirmed COVID-19 cases within the district. As a result, teachers are being quarantined and school officials say they’re having difficulty finding substitute teachers to fill in.

The board unanimously approved a plan that would allow in-person learning to continue as the district addresses the staffing issue. The plan is to use a threshold system to close down some of its middle schools and high schools with positive COVID-19 cases.

The details have yet to be hashed out, but in principle, the district's board agreed the new rules would be:

-- If one school has two positive cases in a specific time, the whole school would have to switch to virtual learning for 14 days
-- If three secondary schools see one case each within a certain period, all three would have to go virtual for two weeks

Mission Vista High School already has two positive COVID-19 cases, so the district plans to close the school on Thursday and transition students and staff to virtual learning. They plan to notify families and faculty on Wednesday.

The new threshold system does not apply to elementary schools.

There is one reported case each at Roosevelt Middle Schoo, Alamosa Park Elementary School, Mission Meadows Elementary, and Alta Vista High.

In light of the positive cases, at least 400 students and nearly two dozen staff members have been ordered to quarantine.