North Hills closing all school buildings until at least Nov. 30 to counter covid-19 spread

The North Hills School District is closing all of its buildings for the remainder of the month in response to the stay-at-home advisory issued this week by Allegheny County health officials.

All district buildings will be shut down today at 4 p.m. and will remain closed until at least Nov. 30.

“The advisory is not mandatory but strongly encouraged to slow the spread of covid-19 in our community,” district officials said. “The hope is to be able to return to the hybrid instructional model as scheduled on Monday, Dec. 7. If that is not possible, families and staff will be notified no later than Dec. 4.”

If the building shutdown is lifted on Dec. 1, teachers and staff such as maintenance and custodial employees will be allowed back inside the facilities, said district spokeswoman Heather Pelat.

“Some of our teachers prefer to teach remotely from their classrooms,” she said. “They will be able to resume doing that on Dec. 1 if a decision is made to reopen the buildings.”

The district also has suspended all athletics and activities, but clubs and other groups can hold virtual meetings.

“With the PIAA (Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletics Association) winter sports season set to begin with practices on Friday, Nov. 20, this suspension will allow district administrators time to seek guidance and clarification … on how best to navigate this next phase of the virus so we can safely resume athletics and activities as soon as possible.”

The district will make a decision about how to proceed after consulting with the the county and state health departments, the PIAA and the Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League.

The stay-at-home advisory was issued to address the recent spike in covid cases in the county.

Allegheny County health officials said Nov. 19 was the second consecutive day in which more than 600 new cases of coronavirus were reported.

The 609 additional covid-19 cases reported on Thursday brings the total case count to 22,043 since the pandemic reached the county in March. The county recorded a record 620 new cases the previous day. Allegheny has experienced a 38% increase in covid cases since the beginning of the month.

North Hills has had 41 active covid cases, which includes nine that are still active, according to a covid tracker created by the district. Seven of the cases are students and two are staff members.