More Than 700 LPS Students Miss School Last Week with COVID Cases on the Rise

Students, teachers and staff at Lincoln Public Schools were all wearing face coverings Wednesday as part of a new mask mandate in Lancaster County. Rising COVID numbers related to the delta variant have prompted health officials to bring back the mask requirement. Lincoln Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Steve Joel told school board members Tuesday night that 14% of new COVID cases in Lancaster County involve LPS students.

“Clearly, even in an environment where an awful lot of people have taken the vaccine, the numbers on the LPS side are high and likely to go much higher,” Joel said.

More than 700 students missed school last week because they were either COVID-positive or quarantined because of an exposure.

“With that number of students that are being excluded, students are missing out on valuable instruction, and that’s instruction that ultimately teachers and students and parents are going to have to compensate for a make-up.

Unlike last year, there is no remote learning option this year in LPS. Last December, LPS COVID cases made up about 5% of the local cases, a number that has nearly tripled since then.