January 28, 2022
Dear Staff, Students, and Families,
This letter is to update covid case information thru Friday, February 4th as of approximately 12:00 pm. As you can see we had a total of 29 student positive cases and 2 positive staff cases. However I want to note that several of these cases were found through pool testing and due to the winter storm not all positive pools have been subject to follow up. Also, although we have had only 2 positive staff - 3 of the previous week’s staff are still under isolation due to continued positive tests. Thankfully, MTVES is no longer over the 15% absentee rate but the school will remain in outbreak status through February 11, 2022.
We encourage everyone to continue to use the home screener for symptoms. It is located here.
As noted previously we are accepting home tests that include the name of the student as well as time and date of test for students with symptoms. A positive home test will be accepted and should be communicated immediately to the school nurse. Negative home tests can be submitted for students with symptoms but will be followed up with another test during the school day. This is necessary as we often find that individuals will test negative 3 and 4 times before testing positive. Please maintain open lines of communication with the school nurses during this time as we work to keep your child in school and school open to in person learning.
For students that are returning to school on day 6 (or if on days 7 thru 10) there will be a rapid test given at school to confirm that the student is not still positive. If returning on day 11 no retest will be given. A positive test means that the student will need to continue to isolate. Again, although we will accept a negative home test we will follow that up at school to confirm. This is necessary to insure students do not return contagious and expose additional students and staff. We are finding many individuals are still testing positive on day 6 and beyond. Retesting is necessary to ensure school spread is not happening. Thank you for your cooperation on this matter - it keeps our schools open which is what we all want.
Finally, please note anything that is covid or illness related should be communicated directly with the appropriate school nurse. This ensures timely response and efficient flow of information between the nurses and home concerning illness. Thank you!
Have a wonderful weekend - there is a light at the end of this tunnel as our numbers are starting to indicate. We acknowledge the struggle this past month has been and are here to support our communities. We are in this together and we will get through this together with kindness, empathy and compassion for all! Go Bears!
Sincerely,
Jay Charette
Superintendent of Schools