Another case of COVID-19 has been reported at Creighton Community School, leading the school to shut down its entire high school section starting Friday for at least a week.
The school's second case was confirmed by the Creighton School Division Jan. 21. In a letter to parents obtained by The Reminder, the division said contact tracing is underway and close contacts of the new case will be contacted and advised by public health.
"We are working with Saskatchewan Health Authority through Public Health, to facilitate the contact investigation related to the school setting," reads the letter.
"If you do not hear from them directly, that means your child has not been assessed to be a close contact and will not be required to isolate."
The school's Pre-K to Grade 6 classes will continue as normal. Earlier this week, another case of COVID-19 was reported in the school, causing a class to be sent home as a precaution for remote learning.
"At this point, there is no evidence of COVID-19 transmission within the school setting," reads the letter.
"Under the direction of the medical health officer, the affected part of Creighton Community School will undergo deep cleaning and disinfection prior to reopening of the affected area, through the guidance provided by the Saskatchewan Health Authority’s (SHA) public health inspectors."
In response to the new case, the Creighton School Division announced that the high school section of Creighton Community School would be closed starting Jan. 22 as a precaution and to allow deep cleaning to take places. Grade 7-12 students at the school will be moved to remote learning during the closure.
With exams coming up at the school from Jan. 25-29, the division is now devising a plan to allow Grades 10-12 students to write their exams on schedule. It is unknown if that plan will involve the students writing their exams at the school or at home.
"As we are very close to final exams a plan is being formulated for Grades 10-12 students to write their exams next week, this plan will be forthcoming once arrangements have been made," reads the letter.
Students in Grades 7-9 will not write a final exam - instead, the students will be given a mark based on their course work only, which may continue into the next week at the teacher's discretion and will continue through the end of the semester remotely.
"We will remain at distance delivery for Grades 7-12 for at least the week of January 25-29. We will re-assess near the end of the week and let everyone know if it will need to be extended or not," reads the division letter.
Parents are asked to monitor their children for possible COVID-19 symptoms. If any arise, parents are asked to call HealthLine 811 and isolate at home.
