3 Moapa schools send students home after COVID exposures

Three Moapa Schools announced Friday that COVID-19 exposure has sent several individuals home with symptoms and one school will begin full-time distance learning Friday as a result.

Principals at Bowler Elementary School, Lyon Middle School and Moapa Valley High School announced Thursday that the schools were taking precautions after exposure on their campuses, according to a joint statement from the Clark County School District.

Bowler will begin full-time distance learning on Friday, according to Principal Shawna Jessen. Multiple individuals were showing symptoms after being exposed to an individual who tested positive for the virus, she said in the statement.

Lyon Principal Kenneth Paul said in the statement that several people were in quarantine and multiple people were showing symptoms after being exposed to someone who had tested positive.

The high school expressed plans to deep clean after an individual on campus tested positive Thursday, Principal Hal Mortensen announced.

“If any students are participating in outside activities, they are asked to be diligent in following current, best-practiced mitigation methods for the safety of our school and students,” the principals said in the statement.

The Southern Nevada Health District and CCSD are contacting those who may have been exposed, the statement said.

Lisa Wolfley, who has five children including her 10th-grade daughter at Moapa High and seventh-grade son at Lyon, said she learned the news that the two will now be in quarantine in phone calls from the school Thursday evening.

“It’s 2020. We’re just going to roll with it,” she said. “It is what it is, I guess.”

Wolfley said that her son is in Cohort A, which meets for classes in person Monday and Tuesdays, but that he’ll now be entirely online until Nov. 9.

She said he is “pretty self-driven and motivated” so he will be able to thrive in a distance-learning situation.

Wolfley praised local school administrators and teachers. “They’re amazing and do whatever they can to help parents and students.”

Wolfley said her son is “fine” and has shown no symptoms. She also said she heard that the person with whom her son was in contact had not tested positive but lived with someone who had tested positive. Wolfley said because of the several degrees of separation, she doesn’t anticipate her children will need testing.

Teresa Holzer said her two high school-aged children were not exposed to the person she heard had tested positive, but the person had several siblings at the elementary school as well.

“Because of the shortage of teachers and substitutes, Bowler decided to shut down for two weeks,” she said. “This is just a great example of how we can handle the situation here and that our hybrid plan is working and there’s contingency in case someone tested positive.”

Contact Sabrina Schnur at sschnur@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0278. Follow @sabrina_schnur on Twitter.