PW-S schools report first cases of Covid-19

The Port Washington-Saukville School District reported its first two cases of Covid-19 in schools last week as well as another one this week and joined a growing number of districts in Ozaukee County where students have had to quarantine at home because of contact with the coronavirus.

Two students — one at Lincoln Elementary School and one at Thomas Jefferson Middle School — tested positive for Covid-19, resulting in the quarantine of 34 students, two teachers and two paraprofessionals through the end of this week, Supt. Michael Weber said Monday. 

Among those quarantined are 17 first-graders, their teacher and two aides, as well as 17 middle school students and their teacher, he said. 

“The students and staff members are doing fine,” Weber said. 

On Tuesday, Port Washington High School announced one of its students tested positive for Covid-19 and that district staff members and county health officials were working quickly to determine who had contact with the student so they could quarantine at home.

“From the very beginning, we knew it was unrealistic to think we could keep the virus out of our schools, especially when it’s so widespread,” Weber said.

The district could have been forced to quarantine more than three times as many students if it had not resumed classes with a blend of in-person and online instruction, which may have also prevented a case at Port Washington High School, Weber said. 

“If not for our hybrid model, it could have been as many as 100 students,” Weber said, referring to the number of middle school students that may have otherwise had to quarantine.

Students in the district’s three elementary schools, where administrators say there is ample room to keep them appropriately distanced, attend classes four days a week. They learn online on Wednesdays when buildings are closed for deep cleaning.

At the middle and high schools, students are divided into two groups, with one group attending classes on Mondays and Tuesdays and the other on Thursdays and Fridays. When students are not in school buildings, they are learning online.

The so-called cohort system effectively cuts each school’s enrollment of about 800 students in half and allows for social distancing in classrooms and hallways.

That helped contain the spread of Covid-19 at the middle school and may have prevented an earlier case at the high school, Weber said. 

Weber said that a Port High student developed symptoms over the weekend, but because he was in group B he was not scheduled to be in school until the Thursday of the following week. He stayed home sick that day, then received a positive test result. Because he was not in the school building after becoming symptomatic, other students and staff members did not have to quarantine.

“This is a virus that is passed through the air, which is why social distancing and masks are critical,” Weber said. 

“Our students have been excellent about wearing masks. It’s what happens outside of school that concerns us.”

Citing a surge in Covid-19 cases among young people, Gov. Tony Evers on Tuesday declared a new public health emergency and extended the state’s mask mandate for 60 days. Weber noted the district has its own rule requiring face coverings in schools.

As of Tuesday, 26 schools in Ozaukee and Washington counties had reported Covid-19 cases, according to data from the Washington Ozaukee Public Health Department. In Ozaukee County, school districts with cases are Port Washington-Saukville, Grafton, Cedarburg and Mequon-Thiensville.