Lynnville-Sully switches to virtual learning for high school students

The Lynnville-Sully School District announced Monday it will switch to virtual learning for all high school students beginning Tuesday.

According to the district’s Facebook post, the reason for the switch is due to a large number of high school students being quarantined for exposure to COVID-19. Lynnville-Sully will have no high school in-person classes, practices or games until further notice.

“We will continue working closely with Jasper County Public Health and the Iowa Department of Education to review our current situation and take the necessary actions to limit the impact of illness on our school,” superintendent Shane Ehresman and school nurse Justine Wyma said in the post.

The school announced it had its first positive case confirmed at 11:30 p.m. Sept. 18. Due to confidentiality laws, the school district will not be able to share the names of the individual who tested positive for COVID-19. L-S said the student or staff member was under quarantine following the guidelines from the CDC and Iowa Department of Public Health.

The school district immediately began a contact tracing investigation with the public health department. At 10 a.m. Sept. 19, the school received notification that another student or staff member had tested positive for COVID-19.

As contact tracing continued, it was determined enough students and staff had to be quarantined to make the switch to virtual learning.

The school district will continue to update its Facebook page to keep district family informed of the school’s status.