Gateway covid cases rise by 10, parents respond to the virus' spread

Gateway School District now has a total of 23 confirmed cases of covid-19 among staff and students at two buildings, according to its latest communication with parents.

The new cases were announced Tuesday by the district’s pandemic coordinator, Dennis Chakey, in a letter addressed to parents. The letter was also posted to the district’s website.

The district reported 13 positive cases a week ago.

The additional 10 cases come from Gateway High School, where there are four more students who tested positive and Moss Side Middle School, where four staff members and two students were confirmed positive.

Both buildings have been closed since Oct. 2. They will reopen Oct. 12, following the district’s hybrid learning model.

Despite the growing number of cases, parents who originally chose to send their children to school for the hybrid learning model remain steadfast in their decisions.

Tina Baker, 45, of Monroeville has four children, in first, fifth, eighth and 10th grades.

“They’re all doing the hybrid model,” she said. “And I want to stay with the model. Actually, I would send them five days a week if they opened back up.”

She said the hybrid learning model, where groups of students take turns going to school two days per week, is good for her children’s mental and emotional health.

“They miss the social interaction. I have four boys – and they’re not even extra social. They’re more on the shy side, actually. But they need the mental and emotional stimulation. It’s been isolating.”

Baker, who used to work as an attorney, stays at home with the kids these days. She said she is not afraid of her children contracting the coronavirus.

Neither is Megan Passalinqua, 50, of Monroeville. She also would send her two high school-aged children back to school five days per week if that was an option.

“I’m not at all concerned in the rising number of cases,” she said, adding the community should be celebrating the fact that “hundreds and hundreds of people” at the high school remain healthy.

“It’s wonderful no one is forcing them to be at the school if you don’t want them to be. Schools have accommodated your feelings and comfort levels – there’s a learning option for your child,” she said.

The other options at the school district include a cyber academy and a remote learning model dubbed GATE, or Gateway Academic Transitional Education. It’s similar to the district’s cyber academy, but it offers students both live and recorded instruction.

Millie Chatman of Monroeville said she feels reassured she made the right choice in keeping her two children out of the schools.

She initially enrolled her two children in the GATE program. She has nothing against the program, but said she will switch to the cyber program soon because she believes her children will do better with it.

“I don’t think people take it very seriously now,” Chatman said of covid-19. She acknowledged that most students who contracted the virus have been asymptomatic. But she said she worries about the disease spreading to vulnerable people.