JACKSON TWP — Describing the decision as a proactive move to protect the community and keep schools in local control, the Seneca Valley School Board voted at its meeting Monday to move seventh- through twelfth-grade students back to a “cohort model” from Wednesday until early December.

The board voted to return all secondary students to the blended learning Seneca used at the beginning of this school year, in which students attended school in person two days each week and learned virtually the remaining three. Seventh graders and above will remain in the cohort model until Dec. 6.

This move comes after the district moved its Senior High School to all-virtual learning beginning Monday and ending Friday as eight students in the building have active cases of the coronavirus. It's not the first school in the three-building high school campus to close due to the virus, as Ryan Gloyer Middle School, which houses students in seventh and eighth grades, has been closed since late October and will reopen Wednesday as a result of its own COVID-19 cluster.

In the ZIP codes comprising Seneca Valley, superintendent Tracy Vitale said, there have been more than 50 cases added since Friday. That's a sharp rise from when the board voted to return to school, when the district's areas averaged just four cases per day over a 14-day rolling period.

The state Department of Health and Department of Education informed Vitale Sunday and in a meeting Monday with county superintendents that Butler County's coronavirus numbers placed it in the “significant” level of community transmission. At the Nov. 2 meeting, Vitale said the board would have to consider changing learning models if the county were to be placed in among those counties. Nearly 40 counties are currently in the “significant” cohort.

But it's not only the positive tests that are worrying to Vitale. This weekend, about 180 students were quarantined based on close contact to a COVID-positive person at school.

“That's very concerning for us, … but as of tonight our lead nurse administrator has reported that number has gone up to 400 students in quarantine based on close contact at school. We have additional students on quarantine based on family exposure,” Vitale said.

Several board members expressed doubts. Directors Tim Hester and Jeff Widdowson said they didn't believe the move went far enough, arguing the primary school buildings should also move back to blended learning. Widdowson voted no on the motion due to that belief.

Board President Jim Nickel and Vice President Eric DiTullio said they would not have been in favor if not for the exceedingly large number of students quarantined and the county being designated as having “significant” community transmission.

“We've affected basically what's the equivalent of 70% of one of our classes. One of our graduating classes is 570” students, DiTullio said. “That's not just keeping them away from school. These are kids on the secondary campus. They're going to go to work; they're going to sports.”

The closure of the junior and senior students' building is a needed measure, Vitale said — but it's not enough. She called temporary closure of school buildings “reactive,” and changing of learning models “proactive.”

“It is time for us to be proactive again, in my opinion,” she said.

Students in sixth grade and below will not be affected by this move, and the COVID-19 clusters within school buildings seem mainly confined to the older Seneca students. Of the 16 total active cases in the district, 12 are among secondary students, two are among elementary students and staff, and two are from the district's cyber Academy of Choice.

“We have seen very few positive cases in our elementary schools, and the age distribution of COVID-positive gets higher in ages 13 and up. That's what the research is showing so far,” Vitale said.

She added, “Almost every case has been family transmission or household contact. We have no evidence of school transmission.”

Vitale framed the move to a cohort model as one to be responsible as COVID cases sharply increase in Butler County. She said it's the responsibility of the school district to not contribute to community transmission of the virus.

She argued the district's ability to keep local control could be in jeopardy if the board did not take proactive moves, and the Department of Education at that time decided it was failing to fulfill its responsibilities.

Seneca Valley, which was the last district in Butler County to fully open its doors this academic year — students only began attending full-time in-person instruction Oct. 9 — has been wrought by COVID-19 cases this year more than other county schools. As of 4 p.m. Monday, 39 students and staff at the district have contracted the virus, far exceeding the dozen or fewer cases that have been reported by other districts.