Keller ISD’s COVID-19 cases continue to surge as some area campuses close

Since Tarrant County Public Health Director Vinny Taneja suggested last month that all students return to all-virtual learning, COVID-19 cases have continued to climb in northeast Tarrant County schools, prompting several districts in the area to at least temporarily close some campuses.

While so far this semester two Keller ISD campuses transitioned to remote learning for a “short period,” the district doesn’t plan to revert to virtual learning for every student, Dinene Rusler, with Keller ISD, told The Dallas Morning News via email.

“The district does not currently have plans to switch all in-person learners to remote,” Rusler said.

The two Keller ISD campuses that have been temporarily closed are Fossil Ridge High School, which shut down its campus for two weeks in September before reopening, and Independence Elementary School, which closed its campus last week “due to issues related to staffing numbers,” she said.

According to Keller ISD’s COVID-19 dashboard, on Tuesday in the district there were 144 active cases (81 students, 63 employees), a number which can fluctuate over the course of a day. Earlier Tuesday, the district reported 140 active cases.

On Oct. 20, Keller ISD reported 85 positive cases throughout the district, one month after reporting 34 active cases among students and staff.

“As positive COVID-19 cases are identified and close contacts notified, those numbers are added to the district’s dashboard,” Rusler said. “As individuals who had once tested positive and quarantined individuals return to school, they are no longer considered active and are moved to the ‘inactive’ categories. This is all a manual process, so it may take time for these numbers to be moved from one category to the other.”

Meanwhile, nearby districts are temporarily transitioning some students to online learning. On Monday, Eagle Mountain-Saginaw ISD told NBC 5 that Chisholm Trail High School would close for the rest of the week after more than 450 students and staff members were deemed “close contacts” of someone who tested positive for COVID-19.

In Krum ISD, three schools in the district switched to remote learning Tuesday, and in Sanger ISD, its middle and high school have been closed for the next two weeks due to a spike in cases.