The first day back in the Cornell School District went off Wednesday with only a small hitch. A busload of students was turned away from the school after officials learned some had been near a child who got sick at a child-care facility that morning. Officials said the 30 students should stay away from school today; the district does not have classes Friday. Superintendent D.J. Johnson said two Cornell elementary students waiting for a bus at the child-care center were standing next to a youth who vomited. "Unfortunately, they got on the bus," he said. The rest of the school's first- through 12th-graders attended classes yesterday for the first time since March 23, when the school closed down to be sanitized after a highly contagious intestinal virus sickened about 180 students, faculty and parents. Kindergarten will resume Monday. Johnson said attendance was 90 percent. Besides the bus incident, no illnesses were reported. Health officials haven't pinpointed the cause of the outbreak, although they are fairly certain a contagious virus spread through person-to-person contact is the culprit. County health officials have asked the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta to help identify the virus. The Rev. Thomas R. Petrosky of the Presbyterian Church of Coraopolis, which houses the child-care facility where the youth vomited, said the youngster has a digestive disorder and did not pose a risk to other children. "We can't take that chance," Johnson said. "I understand why some parents are upset, but we just have to be cautious." Students in the bus were quarantined in a school parking lot for about 30 minutes before the bus went to a church. Students remained there until parents could pick them up. Some parents said they were confident the Coraopolis school, which houses 800 kindergartners through 12th-graders, is safe. "I don't believe it has anything to do with the building," said Rick Ashner, 45, of Coraopolis, who has four children in the school, two of whom got sick. "I think (the school) did the right thing. They handled it properly." Others were leery. "I'm kind of hesitant about letting my stepsons back in the school," said Erin Pasqualin, 36 of Coraopolis. "They still don't know what caused it." Although health officials say food was not the cause of the outbreak, Pasqualin packed lunches for her two stepsons. "I'm not letting them eat that (school) food. Who's to say that wasn't it?" she said. Johnson and other school officials say they have done everything possible to make sure the school is safe, including disinfecting the school's ventilation system and removing stuffed animals and other items where the virus might linger. Dan Davis, whose daughter, Taylor, 7, was one of 30 students on the bus that was turned away, said finding child care would be difficult. Still, Davis, whose whole family came down with the illness during the outbreak, thought the extra precautions were necessary. "I understand why (school officials) are being so cautious. Better safe than sorry," he said.

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