AURORA | One week into the school year, three staff members and one student in the Cherry Creek School District have tested positive for COVID-19, with others quarantining as a precaution, according to school district officials.
District spokesperson Abbe Smith provided the Sentinel with a list of staff and students who have tested positive so far, along with notification letters about the cases that were sent out to the affected schools.
The student who tested positive is a Grandview High School student. Eight other students who were in contact with the student are now in quarantine.
The staff members were a Pine Ridge Elementary School daycare program staff member, an Options Homeschool Program staff member and a staff member who works at Belleview Elementary School and Campus Middle School.
Contact tracing was done to identify who the staff members were in close contact with, and two Options Homeschool Program staff from the Fremont building, five Belleview staff members, five Campus Middle staff members and two Campus Middle students are undergoing a 14-day quarantine.
No Pine Ridge employees were affected because the staff member had not been in the building since the start of the school year.
Some of the cases were identified through COVIDCheck Colorado, which offers free COVID-19 testing to all district teachers every two weeks through a partnership with the Gary Community Investments foundation.
“While this proactive testing has identified more positive tests, it has allowed the district time to identify staff members and quarantine them before their interactions with colleagues or students,” Smith said in an email.