Good evening,
We wanted to update our school community on the positivity rates for COVID since we have returned. We had hoped that we would be able to share our pooled testing results, but unfortunately, we have only received about half of the pooled testing results from yesterday. We do not expect today's results until at least late in the day tomorrow and most likely not until Friday.
The information below does not include the positive results from our pooled testing. But we do want to emphasize that the rumors that all the pools tested positive are false. Of the 89 tests that have been returned thus far, only 8 have returned a positive result. The remaining 85 tests are still pending. Those tests are from pools from the high school and middle school. All Boutwell tests were negative and we have no results as of yet from the elementary schools as they just were shipped to the lab today.
Positive results as reported to the Department of Elementary & Secondary Education as of noon today:
Boutwell
Staff - 0 positive cases
Students - 3 positive cases
Flo Ro
Staff - 4 positive cases
Students - 14 positive cases
Swallow Union
Staff - 4 positive cases
Students - 11 positive cases
Middle School
Staff - 11 positive cases
Students 37 positive cases
High School
Staff - 8 positive cases
Students - 83
Central Office - 2 positive cases
Twomey Center - 2 positive cases
These numbers do not represent the number of students absent. The absentee rate has been steady at 12% since Monday for students and the staff absentee rate has also remained the same at about 9%.
The work of our staff has been outstanding. Teachers and paraprofessionals, as well as administrative staff have been effectively covering our classrooms. Our nurses have been supporting us through herculean efforts on their part. We appreciate the partnership of all members of our school community.
When we receive the final results from the pooled testing we will share the outcome.
Best regards,
Laura Chesson, Superintendent
Kristin DeFrancisco, Assistant Superintendent