Dear Staff, Students, and Parents/Guardians,
I am writing to inform you that an individual in our Greylock Elementary School community has tested positive for COVID-19 as a result of a known exposure. The individual was tested and identified as positive on Friday, April 9, 2021. The positive case is related to an exposure outside of school and is not related to the positive cases reported earlier last week. At this time there is no evidence of community spread within the school.
The new case impacts Greylock Elementary School and will not require a further move to remote learning for all students and staff for quarantine, but specific students and staff members have been advised to quarantine and obtain testing due to contact since the last day of possible exposure. All other students and staff can continue with full in-person learning on Monday, April 12, 2021.
Though we cannot provide specific information about the individuals who tested positive, North Adams Public Schools has implemented our protocols for notification, disinfection, and quarantine. Contact tracing has been conducted by School Nurse Leader Lauren Gage. She is assured that contact tracing has accurately identified staff and students who have had a close contact with the affected individual. Close contacts are identified as those individuals who have been within 6 feet of physical distance for more than 15 minutes according to CDC, DPH, and DESE guidance for contact tracing of primary exposures. We are also following all Department of Public Health protocols, including collaborating with our local board of health to complete contact tracing within the community outside of school. Additionally, we are asking those parents whose students are tested for COVID-19 at their health care provider’s office or at the Stop the Spread Center located at 97 Church Street, North Adams to please report the results to the school nurse in a timely manner.
The district’s ongoing pooled testing program continues to assist us in determining if there is potential of community transmission of COVID-19.
If you would like your student to be tested via our pooled testing program, please complete a consent form. To complete the Pooled Testing Consent Form, go to: https://www.napsk12.org/page/pooledcovid19testing. If you have any questions about the pooled testing program, please email the school nurse Lauren Gage at lgage@napsk12.org.
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. We are also continuing to provide remote learning for all students required to quarantine at home. We are committed to continuous communication with, and support of, our families. 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.
Sincerely,
Barbara Malkas, Ed.D.
Superintendent of North Adams Public Schools