Read the Superintendent's Update of COVID-19 cases from 12/1/2020.
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12/1/2020
Dear Gardner Public School Community,
Today, we were notified that an individual who tested positive for COVID-19, has been in our school buildings while contagious. This individual was last in Waterford Street School on 11/24, and has been isolating and following the GPS Protocol: Gardner Public Schools Protocols for Responding to COVID-19 Scenarios in School, on the Bus, or in Community Settings. He/She will not return to school until they are cleared by the Board of Health after completing the required isolation period.
Rebecca McCaffrey, our COVID-19 School Lead and School Nurse Leader, has worked with this individual, school personnel, the school nurses, and the Gardner Board of Health to identify close contacts. Close contacts are defined as any person who was within 6 feet of the positive case for 15 minutes or more within a 24 hour period, while the positive individual was considered contagious. Any individuals that have been identified as being a close contact have been notified by the nursing department and provided with information, resources, guidance, and support. Those individuals are now quarantined for 14 days from the date of their last exposure to the positive individual. The classroom community of this positive individual has received additional communication as well as this district communication. If you did not receive a personal call from the nursing department, there is no need for you or your child to test or quarantine. Our staff and students have been following our COVID-19 safety protocols very closely.
These protocols can be difficult and awkward, yet they are vital to our safety and reduce our risk of exposure to the SARS- CoV-2 virus, which causes COVID-19 infection. The 6 feet of social distancing, masking, hand washing/ hand sanitizing, along with our cleaning and disinfecting protocols, are in place in order to reduce transmission of virus should a person contagious with COVID-19 attend school. I am very proud of the adherence to the protocols by both staff and students. We will continue to keep you updated of any additional COVID-19 positive individuals in our schools.
Please know that confidentiality of our staff and students’ health information is important, and that we are not able to give information that could identify the individual. We will continue to work closely with the Gardner Board of Health and our District Safety Committee in making decisions regarding in-person vs remote learning.
We appreciate your understanding and cooperation as we continue to navigate through this pandemic, while keeping the health and safety of our school community as our top priority.
Sincerely,
Mark J. Pellegrino, Ed. D.