SCOTTSDALE, AZ — The Scottsdale Unified School District Superintendent, Dr. Scott Menzel, has confirmed 219 families with children attending Chaparral High School received "close contact communications" late last week, instructing their child(ren) to quarantine for 14 days because of possible coronavirus exposure.
This comes after the district learned of four additional known cases of COVID-19 at the high school, bringing the total number of active cases to 18, with 10 of those students attending school at least one day this past week. The district's COVID dashboard currently lists the number of active cases at 14.
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Dr. Menzel and SUSD Governing Board Member Jann-Michael Greenburg, both telling ABC15 there is also growing concern that certain labs either are not reporting cases, or they are not doing it in a timely manner, which complicates the situation as they work with the Maricopa County Department of Public Health on how to proceed "in light of the increasing number of cases."
High school students in the district just returned to in-person learning on Monday, October 12. However, athletics and some extracurricular activities have been holding practices in the months before then. Last month, the school canceled several JV and Varsity football games after a varsity player tested positive for COVID-19.
The district is now urging parents to keep sick kids at home and emphasizing the requirement of transparency.
A recent letter from the district to families involved in athletics reiterates, "Our SUSD expectation is that student-athletes and parents are transparent with our programs regarding COVID-19. A lack of transparency is considered conduct detrimental to the team and grounds for removal. Our coaches understand that missing a player for a few weeks is a better option than losing the team for multiple weeks or even the remainder of a season."
The SUSD governing board is scheduled to hold a regular meeting on Tuesday, October 20. Dr. Menzel says he will be providing updates to the board as "it is important to share what we know, how we are responding, and to reiterate the importance of community support in mitigating the spread of COVID."
