First known COVID-19 case confirmed in a Centre County school this fall
The first known COVID-19 case in a Centre County school has been confirmed.
A student in the Young Scholars of Central Pennsylvania Charter School has contracted the coronavirus, CEO and Principal Levent Kaya confirmed Thursday. The school, which is operating remotely this week, was notified of the case Wednesday.
“As soon as we were informed, we notified our school community, leaders of the school around us and the district of residence of the student who tested positive,” Kaya wrote in an email. “We reached out to the Department of Health and provided information to help with the contact tracing process.”
Young Scholars families received an email Wednesday about the positive test from Crystal Confer, the elementary assistant principal.
“If your child has been in the same classroom as this student, you were sent a separate email informing you of that,” Confer wrote. “We will continue to keep you updated if we are notified of any other cases.”
Kaya said staff and students who were in close contact with the student were notified and asked to quarantine for 14 days.
“We have a very conservative and strict health and safety policy,” Kaya wrote.
Between Aug. 25 and Sept. 4, the school was operating in a blended reopening model with in-person and full remote instruction. Mask wearing, social distancing and handwashing were implemented and complied by the school community, Kaya said.
“We will be in full remote learning model next week as well,” he said.
Located at 1530 Westerly Parkway, State College, YSCP is under the supervision of the state Department of Education and the State College Area School District through its charter.
