Greensburg Salem secondary students will head back to school after 2-day covid closure

Greensburg Salem middle and high school students are set to return to their classrooms Monday after the schools stepped back to full remote instruction on Thursday and Friday because of covid-19 cases.

Because Westmoreland County returned to a substantial level of covid transmission, local schools must track the number of cases reported within a rolling 14-day period and must temporarily move to remote instruction if a case threshold is reached.

Superintendent Gary Peiffer said Greensburg Salem secondary students on Monday are slated to resume a schedule of in-person classes four days per week, with remote instruction provided on Wednesday.

Peiffer said there were eight positive covid-19 cases at the high school this past Monday and Tuesday, with at least four more probable cases through close contacts.

At the middle school, there were nine covid cases in the most recent 14-day period, according to Peiffer. He said the district was checking with close contacts of those cases to determine the probability of additional positive cases.

Students enrolled at Central Westmoreland Career and Technology Center attended classes as normal.

Middle school athletics were cancelled, but high school athletics were still taking place.

“We had two clusters of middle school students who were participating in extracurricular activities where the positive cases and close contacts were,” Peiffer said Friday. “That is why the middle school athletics were rescheduled Thursday and today.

“At the high school, none of the cases were related to extracurricular programs, either as positive cases or close contacts. That is why were are able to continue with those activities through Saturday.”