Silver Lake schools working hard to get back on track after 7 staff test

SILVER LAKE, Kan. (KSNT) – Mother of two Cristina Nava lives in Topeka, and two years ago she made the decision to enroll her two children in Silver Lake schools.

Her nine-year-old daughter and fourteen-year-old son both take classes at Silver Lake elementary and high school.

“I’ve just heard really good things about Silver Lake, and this is their second year going,” Nava said.

What Cristina heard still stood true in her eyes, even after the school district announced seven cleaning and maintenance staff members tested positive for coronavirus on Monday.

This forced the school district to switch back to completely online learning instead of continuing in-person classes.

However, this wasn’t a large switch for Nava’s daughter, who had been taking remote classes since the beginning of the school year.

“I can hear her telling the students, asking them to wash their hands. I know they’re actually putting into practice everything they can,” Nava said.

Starting Wednesday, her son will join her youngest in remote learning for the rest of the week.

“This gives us time to do contact tracing, assess the situation, and then make a decision as we move forward the week of Sept. 8,” said Tim Hallacy, superintendent of Silver Lake schools.

Since the staff who tested positive were cleaning and maintenance staff, the department is now short-staffed, Hallacy said.

However, the outbreak, as of Tuesday morning, had not affected any staff or students in the actual classrooms. It’s the administration’s main goal to keep it that way, Hallacy said.

“Certainly if we find something we’ll incorporate that into our common practices, our plans, because this is going to be with us for awhile,” Hallacy said.

These actions are something the parents have noticed.

“There’s no harm in being cautious, and I’m glad that they’re doing that to just prevent it spreading throughout,” Nava said.

The school district administration hope to have a decision as to when students can return back to in-person learning by the end of this week, Hallacy said.