With two more students testing positive for COVID-19 this past Friday, The Villages Charter School accounts for more than half of all the cases identified in Sumter County schools.
The latest positive results at the charter school – the facility that largely educates children of the Developer’s family, Villages employees and those who work in various businesses in the sprawling retirement mecca – were reported on Friday, Nov. 6, according to statistics provided by the Sumter County Schools website. That brings the total number of cases at the school to 32, with the entire district reporting 59 positive results.
In October, the charter school briefly stopped reporting its COVID-19 cases to the Sumter County School District. A school district official said the reason given for the charter school becoming the only public school in tri-county area that wasn’t reporting COVID-19 results was because staff was “doing their own contact tracing and exclusions.” That decision, which quickly was reversed, drew the ire of many Villages-News.com readers who commented on a story that was published on Saturday, Oct. 10.
That decision also came in a week that saw the charter school report eight positive cases among students, several of which involved members of The Villages High School football team. Those positive results led to the cancellation of games with Leesburg High School and South Sumter High School, which as of Monday was reporting 14 cases since classed started at the end of August.
The other Sumter County schools that have identified COVID-19 cases since the end of August include Webster Elementary School (3), South Sumter Middle School (3), Lake Panasoffkee Elementary School (3), Wildwood Elementary School (2) and the district’s E-Learning program (2).
The Lake County School District reported 40 positive cases last week among 21 students and 19 employees. The district also reported 379 students and 61 employees in quarantine. Those quarantine numbers include those who have tested positive as well.
Lake County schools and departments affected by the latest COVID-19 results include:
- Beverly Shores Elementary School (2 students positive, 1 staff member positive, 41 students quarantined, 8 staff members quarantined);
- East Ridge Middle School (1 student positive, 11 students quarantined, 1 staff member quarantined).
- Eustis Elementary School (2 students positive, 2 students quarantined);
- Eustis Heights Elementary School (1 staff positive, 3 staff members quarantined);
- Eustis Middle School (1 staff member positive, 6 staff members quarantined);
- Eustis High School (1 staff positive, 6 students quarantined, 3 staff members quarantined);
- Grassy Lake Elementary School (1 staff member positive, 1 student quarantined, 1 staff member quarantined);
- Lake Hills School (2 staff members positive, 2 staff members quarantined);
- Lake Technical College (2 students positive, 1 staff member positive, 15 students quarantined, 2 staff members quarantined);
- Leesburg High School (1 student positive, 1 student quarantined);
- Mascotte Charter School (1 student positive, 1 staff member positive, 13 students quarantined, 3 staff members quarantined);
- Minneola Charter School (1 student positive, 25 students quarantined, 5 staff members quarantined);
- Mount Dora Middle School (1 student positive, 1 staff member positive, 11 students quarantined, 1 staff member quarantined);
- Mount Dora High School (1 student positive, 1 staff member positive, 38 students quarantined, 4 staff members quarantined);
- Round Lake Charter School (1 student positive, 22 students quarantined);
- Sawgrass Bay Elementary School (3 students positive, 21 students quarantined, 2 staff members quarantined);
- Sorrento Elementary School (1 staff member positive, 14 students quarantined, 3 staff members quarantined);
- South Lake High School (1 student positive, 2 staff members positive, 21 students quarantined, 3 staff members quarantined);
- Transportation Department (1 staff member positive, 30 students quarantined, 8 staff members quarantined);
- Triangle Elementary School (3 staff members positive, 1 student quarantined, 5 staff members quarantined);
- Triangle Elementary School (1 staff member positive, 2 staff members quarantined);
- Triangle Elementary School (1 staff member positive, 1 student quarantined, 2 staff members quarantined);
- Villages Elementary School (1 staff member positive, 1 staff member quarantined);
- Windy Hill Middle School (4 students positive, 106 students quarantined).
The Marion County School District reported 16 positive cases last week among 11 students and five employees. The district reported 83 students and 26 employees in quarantine. Also, 295 students were sent home from schools last week with COVID-19 symptoms.
The Marion County schools and departments that were affected by the positive cases include Belleview High School, Curriculum and Instruction, Dr. N.H. Jones Elementary School, Dunnellon High School, Elementary Education, Forest High School, Fort McCoy High School, Greenway Elementary School, Harbour View Elementary School, Liberty Middle School, Marion Oaks Elementary School and West Port High School.
