After opening its gym to volleyball practice on July 6, officials at Wrenshall High School had to soon shut everything down as a friend and fellow student of the volleyball players tested positive for Covid-19. Superintendent Kim Belcastro made the case public Monday at the monthly school board meeting. She said the positive case shows just how vigilant students and staff need to be as schools try to reopen this fall despite the ongoing pandemic.

“We notified all players that all volleyball activities will be shut down for two weeks,” said activities director Jeremy Zywicki. “The gym is cleaned thoroughly after every practice or activity the team holds.”

Intense cleaning is part of the back-to-school plan Wrenshall is forming, as are protocols to use when students of staff fall ill at the school.

Belcastro followed up on the Covid case in an email to board members Tuesday. “I just wanted to let you know that I heard back from the parent of the high school student with Covid-19,” she wrote. “The student did have it and is now completely recovered and the parents are in quarantine now. The mother wanted to make sure that we understand even (what’s thought to be) a common cold can be Covid. The student also had swollen glands.”

The case highlights what schools will face this fall as they return to class. Wrenshall seems to be on the front lines when it comes to planning for what school days will look like while strict pandemic restrictions remain in place. On Monday, the discussion at the board meeting leaned heavily toward a hybrid style of learning where students spend part of the week at school and another at home practicing distance learning.

Next week, the Pine Knot News will take a closer look at Wrenshall’s burgeoning reopening plan, one that is being emulated by school districts across the region as they await an announcement July 27 from the state on what it expects schools to do in the fall.

— Mike Creger / Pine Knot News