ST. PAULS — Students at St. Pauls High must wait one more week to return to in-person learning after the continued presence of COVID-19 cases on campus, the school’s principal said Monday.

On March 1, students enrolled in the Public Schools of Robeson County who chose the option to once again learn in the classroom returned to their classrooms, while SPHS students must continue to wait.

From March 1 through Friday, there were two staff exposures and one student exposure, said Gordon Burnette, PSRC’s spokesman. On Feb. 26, Burnette told The Robesonian that six staff members had tested positive for the coronavirus, with contact tracing determining nine staff members may have been exposed. Six students tested positive and 65 were determined to have been exposed to the virus through contact tracing. Members of the boys and girls varsity basketball teams and the football team had been placed under quarantine.

Clorox 360 sanitizing machines were sent to the high school to clean the area at that time, Burnette said.

“During the past week at our school, we have been dealing with an increase in both the number of positive cases of COVID-19 and in the number of protective quarantines,” SPHS Principal Jason Suggs said Monday in a statement.

“After consulting with PSRC leadership and local health officials, and following our existing protocols, we have made the decision to delay the return of in-person instruction for Saint Pauls High School,” Suggs wrote in his statement.

Teachers will return March 15 for a teacher workday, Burnette said. Students will return on March 16.

“Until then, we will continue to follow our current remote instruction schedule through March 12,” Suggs wrote.

The decision to postpone learning was shared Thursday on the school’s website.

There are 996 students enrolled in the school, Burnette said. Four hundred and six of SPHS students filled out a PSRC survey stating they would return to campus, with 200 not completing the survey.

“All guidelines and sanitizing practices will continue as usual,” Burnette said.

Students are to return to school in accordance with their last-name designations, according to the school’s reentry plan posted in February.

“After gathering all the information, we have determined that the best course of action moving forward is to assign students whose last name begins with A-K to be on the A-day schedule (Monday and Tuesday) and students whose last name begins with L-Z will be on the B-day schedule (Thursday and Friday). Wednesdays will be an asynchronous day when all students will have to log on and do assignments for attendance and grading purposes. Anyone choosing to remain virtual will be considered to be on the C-schedule (virtual),” the plan reads in part.

Students are to begin arriving on campus about 7:40 a.m., with first period beginning at 8 a.m. and fourth period ending at 3 p.m. All students are expected to follow the same designated class period times.

“Parents, we are exhausting all resources to keep everyone safe. Do not send any students to school if they have, or are experiencing, any COVID-like symptoms. If we do not follow these essential guidelines, the school may have to stop in-person learning for two weeks,” the plan reads in part.