Kapolei High School is reverting to all-distance learning and shifting to telework for staff after three employees tested positive for COVID-19 in the last four days, the state education department said late Monday.
“While it is not standard practice for HIDOE to publicly disclose school-level cases, broader notification is made under certain situations, including closure of a school,” the release said.
According to a letter Kapolei High principal Wesley Shinkawa sent to families, the school learned of the first positive case on Thursday. The staffer had “minimal contact with staff and students,” the letter said. The school learned of the second case Friday and the third case, Monday.

Shinkawa said the state Department of Health said it doesn’t appear transmission occurred on campus. The DOE release added that DOH officials have “ruled out a connection between Case No. 2 and the others.”
Out of an abundance of caution and as part of an ongoing investigation with the DOH, the principal said, the school would close its doors starting Wednesday at least through Nov. 11.
Kapolei High, which enrolls close to 2,000 students, has been in distance learning mode since the start of the school year and planned to continue that through the end of the calendar year. However, DOE teachers and staff have been working on campus.
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