SALAMANCA, N.Y. — The Salamanca City Central School District will continue with full remote learning due to positive COVID-19 cases and elevated quarantine.
Salamanca City Schools won't be back to classes until at least mid-week next week. The district will remain in remote instruction Monday and Tuesday.
It's because of staffing shortages due to COVID quarantine orders and positive cases.
A decision on reopening on Wednesday will be announced Monday morning.
According to the school district, students who attend out of district IEP based programs will be transported along with students attending Ellicottville CTE and Big Picture programs.
To be more transparent with the public, the Salamanca City Central School District says it will be publishing the number of staff members and students who have tested positive for COVID-19 and those who have been quarantined due to close contact.
According to the school district, during the week of Oct. 21 through Oct. 27, 41 individuals were quarantined, and nine individuals had tested positive for COVID-19. During the week of Oct. 28 through Nov. 5 those numbers increased to 91 individuals quarantined and 22 positive cases.
Superintendent Robert Breidenstein released a statement on the school district's official Facebook page on Friday, Nov. 5. The statement reads in part, "The district leadership team has been working closely with the Cattaraugus County Health Department since the beginning of the pandemic. Over the past several weeks, the number of positive cases in our region (Southwest Cattaraugus County) has increased and the number of quarantined and positive students and staff are also increasing. The increased positive designations and quarantined numbers are starting to impact our ability to meet program needs as students and staff are quarantined."
The Salamanca City Central School District went on to say that most of the positive cases reported were contracted outside of school. The school district says it is continuing to follow safety practices such as wearing masks, cleaning, social distancing and contact tracing.
In addition, Breidenstein says the school district believes the schools remain a safe place for both students and staff. Breidenstein said the decision to switch temporarily to remote learning was a "complicated process," and says the current numbers should not serve as an indicator for potential remote instruction in the future.
The statement reads: "These numbers should not serve as an indicator of future decisions to go remote. Like school closures for cold temperatures, this decision involves a multitude of other factors."