Skowhegan Area High School will continue remote learning Monday and Tuesday after 105 students and staff members were asked to quarantine due to a positive case of COVID-19.
Maine School Administrative District 54 Superintendent Jon Moody wrote in a letter Sunday that after discussions with staff members at the high school, he decided to continue with remote learning for at least a couple of more days.
On Thursday, a case of COVID-19 was reported at the high school, resulting in a remote learning day Friday for students. An additional case was also reported Friday.
As a result of the two positive cases at Skowhegan Area High School, 95 students and 10 staff members have been asked to quarantine. Because of this, students and staff members worked remotely Friday under the district’s “red plan” learning schedule.
All other schools in the district will be operating in person, according to Moody. He added that the high school is expected to return to in-person learning Wednesday, “barring any additional staffing challenges.”
“Our priority from the beginning of the pandemic has been to have all students in school every day,” Moody wrote in the letter. “This situation was a unique one in that we’re electing to go remote because of a COVID-19 case or spread. We made the decision as we don’t have enough staffing at SAHS to run in-person school over the next two days.”
Extra and co-curricular activities are still planned, and students can attend practices as normal, so long as they participate in remote learning and the event is still on. Transportation will not be provided by the school.
At Skowhegan Area Middle School, a recent case of COVID-19 has resulted in 14 students and 13 staff members being asked to quarantine as a result of potential exposure.
“This was a tough call to make, and one that we don’t take lightly,” Moody wrote in the letter. “Our hope is to be back in school Wednesday to finish the week strong prior to April vacation.”
MSAD 54 data shows there have 41 positive cases of COVID-19 within the district since the school year began — 22 of among students and 19 among the staff.
There have been 20 positive cases outside of school, meaning students or staff members contracted the virus outside of school and were never in schools at any point while sick or contagious.
Two cases have been reported among students at the Somerset Career & Technical Center.
All told, 814 students or staff members have been asked to quarantine since the beginning of the school year.
MSAD 54 enrolls students form Canaan, Cornville, Mercer, Norridgewock, Skowhegan and Smithfield.
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