Dear Staff, Parents and Community Members:

We have been notified by the Board of Health that some staff and students in different schools have tested positive for COVID-19 over the last few days. Contact tracing has been completed on all of these cases and close contacts have been or are in the process of being notified. The breakdown is as follows:

• A Birch Meadow staff member who was in person last week. There were no staff close contacts and 16 student close contacts.
• A Coolidge student who was in person last week.  There were two staff close contacts and 11 student close contacts.
• A Coolidge student who was in person this week.  There was one staff close contact and four student close contacts.
• A RMHS staff member who has been remote. There were no close contacts in school.
• Two RMHS students who have been remote this week.  There were no close contacts in school.
• A RMHS student who was remote this week but participated in sports practice this week.  There were 23 student close contacts who are currently quarantined as a result of this situation.
• A Barrows student was in person last Thursday.  One staff member was a close contact and is being quarantined.
• Four Parker students who were either remote or not in school when they were infectious.  There is no know connections between these cases.  There were no close contacts in school from these four cases.
• A Killam student who was remote during the infection period.  There were no close contacts in school.

Using our cleaning and disinfecting protocol, the impacted classrooms and spaces at the schools were disinfected as part of our regular extensive disinfection of our classrooms, core facilities, bathrooms, and other learning spaces.

Contact tracing with the individuals who tested positive is ongoing, and any close contacts in the schools have been notified and will be followed up by the Reading Board of Health.  As a result of contract tracing of the above cases, 54 students and 4 staff had to be quarantined. 

We would also like to emphasize that we have had no confirmed in school transmissions at this time. We want to thank our students, staff, and administrators for creating and establishing a safe and healthy learning environment in our schools.

We are closely monitoring this situation and will provide you with any further updates, if necessary. If you have questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Sincerely,

John F. Doherty

Superintendent of Schools