Laurel Highlands School District spends $1 million on school safety plan

One million dollars: that’s how much the Laurel Highlands School District has spent on its back-to-school safety plan.

Classrooms are set up for the start of the new school year with social distancing guidelines in place.

“It’s exciting to know Laurel Highlands is putting so much effort toward the health and safety of all students,” said board member Randy Miller.

Miller’s daughter is also a junior at the high school.

He believes the district has gone above and beyond in creating a physically safe environment for its hybrid model through social distancing, mask wearing and deep cleaning, even taking it a step further.

“We’ve invested in ionizers. We’ve spent about a million dollars in mitigation equipment. It uses safe ultraviolet light to kill the bacteria or virus, in this case the COVID-19 virus on site. We also invested to FDA and CDC-approved cleaners that is supposed to kill the virus for 90 days,” said Superintendent Dr. Jesse Wallace.

Wallace said the equipment will be used on a regular basis in the classrooms, hallways, cafeteria and high traffic areas including in the school buses to keep students and staff safe.

“The biggest thing here is we’re going to be cleaning almost continually all day every day,” Wallace said.

Wallace anticipates about 30% of students will stay home to learn remotely, which allows for spacing desks six feet apart in classrooms and less congestion in hallways.

This is another reinforcement for parents sending their children back to school.

Sports at the Laurel Highlands School District will continue until the PIAA makes an announcement.

Is there an issue at your child’s school that you’d like us to investigate? Contact our investigators by emailing 11investigates@wpxi.com or calling (412) 237-4963.

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