Half of Middle School 8th graders going remote after staff member tests positive

LACONIA — Half of the eighth graders at Laconia Middle School have will be in remote learning for two weeks after it was learned Friday that a staff member at the school had tested positive for COVID-19.

Students in the school's Opechee Team — about 80 of the school's 170 eighth graders — were sent home at 1:15 p.m. Friday. They will receive remote instruction through Wednesday, Dec. 2, and are scheduled to return to class the following day, Superintendent Steve Tucker said Friday evening.

Tucker said no student had been in close contact with the infected school employee. But because several other members of the school staff who work with Opechee Team students had been in close contact with the individual the decision was made to have that segment of the class switch to remote learning.

Meanwhile, all the other students in the School District will be switching to a hybrid schedule starting on Monday, a move prompted by the surge in the number of COVID cases both locally and statewide.

The School Board approved the administration's recommendation to switch back to hybrid on Tuesday in hopes that having fewer students in any school building at one time will reduce the chances of the spread of the COVID-19 virus.