Coronavirus woes continued Monday morning for the Butler Area School District, which recorded 86 total cases of COVID-19.

The cases, which are among students, staff and faculty, were recorded on the COVID-19 dashboard on the district's website.

The dashboard on Monday morning showed 34 cases at the senior high, 22 at the intermediate high school, seven at the middle school, 11 at Emily Brittain Elementary, seven at Broad Street Elementary, three at Northwest Elementary and one case each at McQuistion and Summit elementary schools.

Later in the day, the cases on the dashboard dropped to a total of 77 among all district buildings.

Superintendent Brian White said a school building could close and students would move to remote learning if 5% of the student population tested positive for the virus.

At that point, the district and state Department of Health would discuss the need to close the building.

White said if the department recommended that a school in the district close, he would consult with local medical personnel, but would be hard-pressed to ignore the recommendation.

Most cases are among students at the high school, which educates about 1,500 students. White said the school would need to have 75 positive cases before a conversation about closing the school would occur between the district and the department.

White said in addition to the absences due to the positive cases, other students and staff are in quarantine because they were exposed to a positive case.He said he did not have the number in quarantine.He said until the middle of last week, those who were in close contact with a classmate or staff member who tested positive were required to quarantine, but a parent challenged that requirement.“We don't have the authority to mandate a quarantine,” White said.He said the district sends a letter home to families that their student was in close contact with a case and recommends they quarantine and study at home, but some families ignore the letters.“Some choose to follow it, some don't,” White said.Those in quarantine are provided school work and various instructional opportunities. Some classes are livestreamed at the secondary level, and one teacher at each elementary school handles at-home learning for students whose absence is related to the virus.

Regarding the statewide mask mandate for all public school students, White said it is not a point of contention at the schools.“But it's a constant struggle to tell the kids to pull the mask up,” White said.He said some students do not wear masks.“We do have noncompliant families,” White said.He said if a student refuses to wear a mask, the family is contacted.If the family replies that they do not require their child to wear a mask at school, the situation is then reported to the state health department, White said.White said he is frustrated to see professional, college and high school sports stadiums and bleachers full of spectators.“You wouldn't know there's a pandemic,” he said, “but we are willing to beat each other up for the 6.5 hours a day that kids are in school.”White summed up the probable thoughts of all superintendents dealing with the pandemic. “I wish it were over,” he said.