La Grande School District Superintendent George Mendoza delivers opening remarks at a school board meeting Wednesday, Aug. 4, 2021. In the spring of 2022, Mendoza presented a spending plan for the 2022-23 school year that, based on declining enrollment, calls for cutting nine positions.

LA GRANDE — The La Grande School District’s latest COVID-19 numbers are up moderately from the week of prior.

The statistics, which reflect reports made to school district nurses, indicate a total of 79 students missed class during the week of Sept. 27 to to Oct. 1 due to positive tests for COVID-19 or because they were in quarantine because of close contact with individuals believed to be COVID-19 positive. This student total is up 11 from the week of Sept. 20-24.

The number of La Grande School District students out due to COVID-19 may be up moderately but the current total is still a big improvement from mid-September. The school district then had 123 students out because of positive COVID-19 tests and close contacts. La Grande School District Superintendent George Mendoza is heartened that the school district is still significantly below the mid-September level.

“I am very encouraged by the overall reduction in the number of cases,” he said.

Another positive sign is that the majority of students out are close contacts, not positive cases. Last week 21 students in the district were not on campus because they tested positive for COVID-19, the same number as the week before, meaning that the increase in students out because of COVID-19 was mostly due to being a close contact.

The number of staff out because of COVID-19 was nine, up from six the week before. Five of the staff out last week for COVID-19 were in quarantine after testing positive and the other four were absent because of close contacts.

The week before, two of the six staff members out because of COVID-19 had tested positive for the virus.

Of the the five staff out because of positive COVID-19 tests last week, four were from La Grande Middle School and one was a staff member not based at a specific school.

Fifteen of the 21 students out after testing positive for COVID-19 were at the secondary school level. Nine were La Grande Middle School students and six were La Grande High School students. Elementary school statistics show six students out because of positive COVID-19 tests — three from Central Elementary, two from Island City Elementary and one from Greenwood Elementary.

La Grande Middle School had the highest number of students out due to close contacts with 22. LMS was followed by Central, which had 11 students out due to close contacts. Island City had five students out, and Greenwood had four students out.

The school district has also released its September COVID-19 report, which indicates that 323 students and staff were out at some point during the month after testing positive or due to close contacts. Mendoza said this is an reflection of what the school district is facing as it continues functioning during a pandemic.

“Even though there is a lot of COVID out there, our school district is still operating. We are still fighting to give students the best education we can,” he said. “We want to make it happen.”

Mendoza noted that in doing so the school district’s staff also is receiving an education.

“We are learning how to operate during a pandemic,” the superintendent said.