Dear Thacher parents, caregivers, and guardians,
I am writing to inform you that a person in our school community has tested positive for COVID-19. Our first responsibility is to keep our students and staff safe. We have been planning for this scenario during our re-entry process and have a comprehensive protocol in place to sanitize the school, inform families whose students were at risk of exposure or in close contact, and support the affected family as they navigate this stressful experience.
Our student body and staff have been closely adhering to the safety protocols including mask wearing, hand washing, and physical distancing. We are grateful to our families for their continued efforts to keep students home at the first sign of symptoms. These measures, taken in combination, greatly reduce the risk of additional transmission.
Though we cannot provide specific information about our school community member who tested positive, your child was not a close contact (defined as being within 6 feet of the person for at least 15 minutes) of the affected school member. Please continue to monitor your child for symptoms, and keep your child home if he/she/they shows any symptoms or is not feeling well.
Parents of students who were in close contact with the community member will be notified privately. All close contacts should be tested but must self-quarantine for 14 days after the last exposure to the person who tested positive, regardless of test result. We are following all Department of Health protocols, including collaborating with our local board of health to complete contact tracing. Additionally, we are asking those parents whose students are tested for COVID-19 to please report the results to the school nurse. We are working hard to understand the impact of the virus on our school community and this information is a critical piece of that puzzle.
To further prevent transmission of the virus to other students and staff, we will sanitize the school with a focus on those areas frequented by the community member that tested positive, as well as maintain our daily all-school sanitizing and disinfecting protocols. We will continue to be vigilant in adhering to all of the protocols that have been put in place in an effort to continue in person learning. For the cohort required to quarantine at home, we will provide remote learning for those students.
For more information on COVID-19 symptoms and testing, Click Here. You can also find a map of testing sites Here .
Please contact us immediately should you or someone in your home begin to show symptoms. We are committed to continuous communication with and support of our families. If you have any additional questions or concerns, please contact Nurse Moore. If there is additional transmission as a result of this case or a separate case, we will send out another message immediately.
Thank you for your continued support.
Deba Dunn
Head of School
