Prairie City School District Superintendent Casey Hallgarth

Prairie City School District had a positive case of COVID-19.

Prairie City School Superintendent Casey Hallgath said in a press release that the individual notified the school of their positive test on Dec. 8. That individual was asked to stay home and self-isolate, he said.

Hallgarth said the school did contact tracing, and several students had to be quarantined.

Classes will continue to be in person as the school district continues to work with the Grant County Health Department and guidelines from the Oregon Department of Education to monitor COVID-19 in the community.

“We’ve only had one positive case so it’s not like we have an outbreak,” Hallgarth said. “…If we have a concern to where it’s an outbreak then we’re going to distance learning, but we’re not close to that yet.”

Hallgarth said the biggest concern is the health and safety of the students and staff as the guidelines are re-evaluated daily.

“We’re going to stay with our routine and continue based on the guidelines that ODE and our health authorities provided for us,” Hallgarth said.

Hallgarth said the school would shut down for an outbreak, but he said he has to also consider the ramifications of distance learning on students and parents.

“There’s a fine line there, and that’s why I’m working with the health authority closely to determine if we can keep them at school or need to go to distance learning,” Hallgarth said. “Our No. 1 concern is the safety of the students on both sides: health-wise for COVID-19 and health-wise for the social and emotional health outlay if they go to distance learning.”

“We’ve only had one positive case so it’s not like we have an outbreak. …If we have a concern to where it’s an outbreak then we’re going to distance learning, but we’re not close to that yet.”

—Casey Hallgarth, Prairie City School superintendent