Between Oct. 10 and Dec. 10, the West Bonner County School District had a total of 23 confirmed COVID-19 cases, and 168 related quarantines resulting from them.

Most schools in the district have been able to stay open, although Priest River Elementary was forced to close earlier this month after two teachers contracted the virus and other instructors were exposed.

Across the district, students have continued to attend in-person with a blended learning schedule that is set to switch to full time in the new year, as per a school board decision to amend category three reopening plans on Dec. 16 despite the upward trend of Bonner County COVID-19 rates.

At that meeting, commissioners discussed survey results from teachers on whether or not to bring students back full-time. At one school, teachers were split 50-50, said Superintendent Paul Anselmo.

Paul Lamb, principal at Priest River Lamanna High School, said their school did not conduct a survey, but he believed the majority of staff wanted to go back to full-time instruction.

In total, eight of the 23 confirmed cases were among staff. To fill in for teachers self-isolating and quarantining, the district has filled many substitute positions with paraprofessionals.

However, in the state of Idaho, substitute teachers do not have to have the same teaching certifications as full-time teachers, said Jennifer Anselmo, board clerk. The paraprofessionals within the WBCSD also have more qualifications for teaching than is required by the state, she said.

WBCSD facilities manager Ken Eldore said that during the pandemic, his department hired additional staff to work during the daytime who regularly sanitize high-contact points such as door handles, and staff periodically treat high-traffic areas at night with disinfectant using electrostatic sprayers.

“They’re the sprayers that look like the Ghostbuster machines,” he said.

There are 12 people on staff to clean, Eldore said in an interview with the Bee on Dec. 14. When a positive case is identified, the district’s contract tracer calls the department and his staff to a thorough sanitization of that area.

The schools also made changes at the beginning of the year to reduce transmission risk, including replacing water fountains will bottle filling stations and adding acrylic desk shields for students.

The hardest thing for facilities staff Eldore, he said, is when members of his staff can’t work.

“I had four people, a third of my staff, out sick — either testing positive or in quarantine,” he said. “That’s our biggest challenge.”