Dear RSU 71 Students, Families, Staff, School Board and Community Members,
I'm sending this "weekly update" out a day early this week. It will be Robo-emailed to our families and posted on the district website and my blog as well.
Good News and Information about Decision-Making: The presumed positive case at THMS came back negative. CDC says we must treat a "presumed positive" as a positive until we have the test in hand. The timeline for testing appears to be related to where the test is given and how long it takes the tester to get the CDC results. We have asked CDC if we can have testers send the results straight to the school system in addition to the CDC, but they have said it isn't possible. Health-care providers are challenged enough to get the results to CDC in a timely way. CDC is looking at getting a speedier testing site "in the field" of Waldo County to respond to the outbreak of COVID-19 in Brooks.
I am very keenly aware of these decisions' impact on students, families, staff, school board members, and the larger community. We are trying to balance the desire to keep everything going smoothly and our students in school to the extent possible while also firmly following the CDC's science, guidelines, and requirements. Safety needs to continue to be our top priority. We all sincerely appreciate the forbearance, understanding, and flexibility shown in our community in response to this volatile and rapidly changing landscape. We understand, too, the emotional roller-coaster set in motion by news of a positive or presumed positive case. In the presumed positive case at THMS, we had thought it was a confirmed positive rather than a presumed positive. I will be sure to be more definitive and ask for additional clarification in future communication with the CDC.
Reminder about our Yellow and Red Plans - We all hope that tomorrow doesn't bring news of our Waldo County status being changed from "green" to "yellow." Just in case it does, I include here a link (click the blue link below) to our RSU 71 K-12 Instructional Expectations Framework.
As always, please feel free to be in touch with me, nurses, and administrators with questions and feedback.
Sincerely,
Mary Alice
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1HJbyL6cjKFqLjNTGRDTvZ9DfdirSDbbHzS0j2bToyJc/edit?ts=5f908036
