On Monday, leaders at the Philadelphia private school decided to suspend the exchange program due to "concerns and reactions" about the possibility of one student being tested for coronavirus.
“We regret that this program has been complicated, and now terminated, because of events that were beyond the control of the people who were excited for all the learning that this cultural exchange had promised,” Head of School Darryl J. Ford wrote in an email to Penn Charter parents.
The boy was one of the 18 students who arrived at Penn Charter last week, along with three chaperones, for a two-week exchange.
School officials said the negative test results were delivered to them just before the exchange students boarded buses for New York Tuesday morning. They will spend a night there before flying home to China on Wednesday.