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NANTICOKE &mdash; Greater Nanticoke Area School Board re-elected Tony Prushinski as president during its re-organization meeting Thursday, then went into a regular meeting that included approving furloughs of scores of aides, cleaners, cafeteria workers and others who have no work while students are learning remotely due to the surge of COVID-19 cases in Luzerne County.
				Noting the district will remain in remote-only mode until at least Jan. 19, Superintendent Ron Grevera opened his remarks by pointing out the county had a record number of new cases &mdash; 362 &mdash; on Thursday.
				&ldquo;Today has been a very difficult day,&rdquo; he said, adding that, with a vaccine now on the way, &ldquo;there is a light at the end of the tunnel.&rdquo;
				But the district likely won&rsquo;t have students return to schools until the county&rsquo;s positivity rate &mdash; the percent of tests that come back positive &mdash; drops under 10%. As of last Friday the county positivity rate was 13.7%.
				The furloughs &ldquo;must be done&rdquo; in part to protect employees. &ldquo;It is best to have the fewest number of people in the buildings,&rdquo; he said, to reduce the risk of spreading the virus. &ldquo;Our hope is that after the pandemic passes we will immediately recall the employees being furloughed.&rdquo;
				The board unanimously approved the furloughs, which affected 30 special education aides, 10 cafeteria employees, one cafeteria worker, 19 cleaners, three crossing guards, four hall monitors, five instructional aides, one library aide, one 10-month secretary, two maintenance workers and a nurse aide. All were furloughed under terms of a memorandum of understanding with each group&rsquo;s union.
				The board also accepted the retirement of cafeteria worker Brenda Boone and the resignation of special education teacher Richard Borofski.
				The board approved a quote from K&D Factory Services, Inc., to repair cafeteria equipment as needed at a rate of $93.60 per hour and a travel fee of $75. And it approved a quote from Edwards Business Systems to replace district copy machines at a cost of $5,358 monthly.

Greater Nanticoke Area furloughs aides, cleaners, cafeteria workers