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MILL HALL -- When it comes to cases of COVID-19 in the Keystone Central School District, no news is good news.
That was the word during Thursday night's work session as superintendent Jacquelyn Martin talked about the declining number of cases in the district's schools.
"I no longer send weekly reports across the district … there hasn't been a whole lot to report," Martin said.
She said that in the week ending March 18, the district had zero positive cases and five contacts. In the week ending March 25, there were zero positive cases and zero contacts among any staff or students. In the week ending April 1, Martin said, the district had one student with a positive case. Numbers were at zero again this week.
"The current week, we are again trending at zero cases through (Thursday)," Martin said. "It's really great to have zeros in those case counts."
The numbers reflect what is happening in Clinton County and statewide. On Thursday, Clinton County reported just two positive cases. The total case count for the county since the pandemic began is at 9,034.
According to Martin, up until last week, school districts throughout the Commonwealth were required to report case counts every Friday by the Pennsylvania Department of Education. However, that came to a stop last Friday.
"PDE finally lifted that burden from us. It was time consuming for a few individuals, so it was nice to have something taken off our plate," Martin said.
Martin also talked about the school bus driver shortage and its impact on the district.
"Within the last week alone, we've lost three bus drivers. Three in one week is a pretty hard hit. I know it's all hands on deck from our bus contractors," Martin said.
The district, she said, deals primarily with Susquehanna Transit. However, it is not the only company being impacted.
"The current school bus driver shortage is impacting us along with school districts across the state. The situation in Pennsylvania is dire and on pace to be much worse as we look toward spring. It is critical that we take effective actions now to address the bus driver shortage in our district," Martin said.
With that in mind, Martin announced some changes.
"In an effort to provide safe and efficient transportation for our students for the remainder of this school year, we have developed a plan to combine students from four current bus routes into other bus runs. These changes are not going to impact K-4 students, but will impact several students in grades 5-12," Martin said.
Those impacted will be notified, she said.
"We do have a communication plan in place to be sure that all families impacted by these changes will be contacted by mail. They will also have a letter sent home with the students and they will also be receiving a personal phone call from the school district," Martin said.
The change is expected to take effect on Tuesday, April 19.
Martin asked that those interested in being a bus driver contact Susquehanna Transit at www.susquehannabus.com
"We're going to do everything we can to get the word out," Martin said.
The Keystone Central school district will meet for a voting session at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, April 14. That meeting is open to the public and will also be streamed live via Zoom through the district's website.