All Finley 1st graders sent home to quarantine after COVID exposure

All Finley first-grade students are being sent home to quarantine for two weeks after a school employee tested positive for COVID-19.

District administrators learned about the positive test on Tuesday and announced the closure in “an abundance of caution.”

Assuming the students don’t get sick, the kids can return in-person as early as Nov. 23. Online distance learning will continue in the meantime.

The district is working to identify anyone else who came in close contact with the employee. That includes anyone who was within 6 feet for 15 minutes of the person during a 24-hour period.

Students and staff who are not contacted do not need to worry, said district officials.

This is the first case to impact the rural school district east of Kennewick. That district was one of the first in the area to bring back all of its 900 students for hybrid learning between Oct. 19 and Nov. 2.