An off-campus staff event, a coronavirus, a "situation."
Officials at Cathedral Catholic High School opened a statement sent to the school community on Wednesday with the following: "We are writing with some disappointing news. Due to a COVID-19 related situation that has affected multiple stakeholders on campus, we have no choice other than to delay the start of school."
Later in the day, the school's president, Kevin Calkins, told NBC 7 that the disappointing news got its start at an off-site staff event, prompting a rushed rescheduling of school orientations, which were on the calendar for this week, including Wednesday, as well as the first day of school, which had been slated for Aug. 16.
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The CCHS president said “there was a large gathering that put us in a tough spot," specifically a staff retreat where one attendee tested positive and that contact-tracing guidelines required some attendees -- both vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals -- to quarantine.
Calkins said the delay is expected to push things back for just a few days, with classes beginning sometime next week, with the school hoping to avoid a repetition of last year's online learning.
Despite stressing that there was "not an outbreak on campus," Calkins said that athletics were moving ahead as planned but that locker rooms and the training room/weight room were going to be "unavailable until further notice."
