JACKSON TWP — Seneca Valley superintendent Tracy Vitale updated school directors Monday on the COVID-19 status in schools and community.

Within the Seneca Valley School District, Vitale said there were 27 active COVID cases among students and staff, and 85 school members are in quarantine. Compared with similarly sized Butler Area School District, which according to its website has 41 active cases, Seneca's current incidence rate remains low.

Butler Area does not list the number of quarantines on its website.

Vitale noted, however, the numbers will rise by Tuesday with a number of COVID-19 cases being reported Monday.

Of the 27 cases, 10 are from Haine Middle School, with two classrooms predominantly affected, according to Vitale.

“We will notify all parents again that those classrooms are all open tomorrow, but we are going to permit some live streaming there due to the COVID sitations, and those parents will receive a letter if they haven't already this evening,” Vitale said.

The superintendent also ran through some of the local COVID-19 data, focusing both on Butler County and the ZIP codes comprising Seneca. Vitale said while the most recent seven-day period in Butler County — Sept. 24 through 30 — has had fewer hospitalizations on average than the prior weeklong period, by roughly one person, that doesn't mean the county is in the clear.

“I was on my Monday afternoon call with Butler Health System today and all of the Butler County superintendents as well as the county commissioners, and Butler (Memorial) Hospital is experiencing a surge,” Vitale said.

More locally, the Seneca zip codes have a total of 261.82 COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents in the most recent seven days, Vitale said, which is lower than Butler County's incidence rate as a whole, at 383.8.

Public comment

Masks were not the topic du jour during Seneca Valley's public comment period for the first time in months, as few of the commenters brought up face coverings.

Community members instead spoke on topics ranging from “long COVID” — that is, symptoms lasting longer than COVID infection — to the district's new natatorium.

One commenter took her four minutes to discuss a comment made at the Sept. 20 school board meeting, where a parent raised his concern over a reading given to students about Ruby Bridges, the first Black student attending William Frantz Elementary School in Louisiana.

Kevin Strayhorn during the Sept. 20 meeting said he had concerns over the reading due to what he called “unacceptable language and verbiage” in the reading's depiction of white Louisianans during that period of integration.

Strayhorn said his daughter is interracial, and said he thought the depiction of the white Louisianans was problematic.

“What's going to happen when my daughter comes home and says, 'Hey, Mommy, what about white people being so mean to Black people or Orientals,' or stuff like that?” Strayhorn said. “That's not acceptable. You need to really look at your education system and your teaching staff, what kind of material they propose to (teach) the children.”

On Monday, however, Colleen Tanner said she supported the reading, and noted the assignment described “angry white people” who yelled at Bridges while she was en route to school — something supported by the historical record.

“I ask that we don't just stop at simple stories like this,” Tanner said. “I ask that the administration and school board continues to expand on what is our accurate history and explain the consequences.”