After two COVID-19 cases, schools move ahead to add in-person days

September 19, 2020  |  By Lisa Scagliotti

Students wait for the school bus in Waterbury Center. Parents need to wait with or nearby until students clear the health check to board the bus. Next week schools move to two days of in-person instruction. Photo by Gordon Miller.

After its first episode dealing with COVID-19 cases in one of its schools, the Harwood Union Unified School District is moving ahead with its plan to increase in-person instruction as the school year enters its third week starting Monday. 

Calling it the 2-1-2 model, students and teachers will shift to two days in-person, two days learning remotely or “asynchronously” -- essentially independently -- and one day, Wednesdays, where everyone is remote and meeting online together or “synchronously.” Student classes will still be split into two groups: Those who attended the first two weeks in person on Tuesday will attend Monday-Tuesday starting this week; the Thursday group will shift to Thursday-Friday. 

The move comes after the second week of school put the focus in the district on Crossett Brook Middle School where two students tested positive for COVID-19 after attending in person just one day on Sept. 8. 

On Sunday, Sept. 13, school officials announced that the middle school would not hold in-person classes for the coming week after a fifth and seventh grader tested positive. The process then began to identify and notify the teachers, staff and classmates who had had close contact with the students. 

The number of people involved who then needed to quarantine led school administrators to call off in-person instruction which was to happen on Tuesday and Thursday last week. 

Principal Tom Drake said the process working with the state Department of Health to sort out which individuals were affected was new and somewhat confusing to navigate. The students and staff who were in close contact with the infected students were advised to be tested. Drake said late last week that it was unclear whether the school district could require proof of negative tests before those individuals could return to school in person. 

The school was the first involving multiple cases this school year. Another single case was identified at Hartford High School in White River Junction last week although that involved fewer close contacts. 

On Tuesday, Superintendent Brigid Nease issued a lengthy memo to the community in which she recounted the steps taken and lessons learned. Nease praised the school staff, nurses and parents who dealt with the situation saying “we got this” but added that school leaders see ways to improve for the future. 

“Principal [Tom] Drake and I determined some additional steps we will take districtwide in the future in addition to the medical requirements of contact tracing. These additional steps should help to manage communication better,” Nease wrote.  

One lesson involved the information sent out to families from the start. Nease said in the future, when the school district would contact the Health Department, it also would alert all families on the contact list that they might hear from state contact tracers. Another step would be to let all families in the affected building know that if they did not receive a letter stating they were on a contact list, “they are in the clear.”

The district also learned that contact-tracing can take longer than 24 hours, contrary to what school officials had initially expected. 

Contact tracing identified 22 students (the two positive cases, another 16 students from CBMS and four from Harwood Union High School) along with four teachers that needed quarantine, Nease explained. 

A week after exposure, an individual may get a test with results expected within 24-48 hours. That information is critical, particularly for results involving teachers because their status impacts whether they can return to the classroom. 

“Recommendations we have for [the Health Department] moving forward include expediting test results for Vermont teachers and contact trace the adults first to enable schools to remain open given the shortage of substitutes,” Nease said. 

Moving forward, school officials announced Friday that all schools would be open for the four days of in-person learning this week as planned. “Nothing about our recent experience at CBMS changes our thinking to move forward at this time,” Nease said.  Middle school sports practices are also scheduled to begin this week after being postponed last week due to the shift to all-remote learning.

Given the uncertainty of when and whether new cases of the virus will occur, Nease said the goal will be to continue with the school year while being prepared to respond to the situation. “We all understand that we need to provide a solid year for our students with learning experiences on both remote and in person days that are as robust as possible. In order to reach the greatest levels of success as this COVID year progresses, we need the highest levels of flexibility, acceptance that we will need to pivot quickly on any given day, understanding, and support for the staff and administration making these decisions,” she said. 

This week’s latest Community Bulletin the district posted on its website contains more details on COVID-19 symptoms, screenings and responses for students and staff to follow going forward. 

The Vermont Department of Health updates a town-by-town map each week showing the distribution of COVID-19 cases across the state. Source: healthvermont.gov.

Praise and caution from Dr. Fauci 

The response in the school district came just as Vermont received praise from one of the nation’s top officials addressing the COVID-19 pandemic. Dr. Anthony Fauci joined Gov. Phil Scott’s press briefing on Tuesday in which he praised Vermont’s efforts to contain the virus. 

Fauci is the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and member of White House Coronavirus Task Force. His career experience with infectious disease includes HIV/AIDS, Ebola and Zika virus. Fauci said Vermont is a model for the rest of the nation but he cautioned that even in a state with a low number of cases, Vermonters need to remain vigilant. 

“The message that I’d like all of the citizens of the state to hear is that this virus is a formidable foe. If you give it an opportunity to reemerge its ugly head, whether you’re in the beautiful rural area of Vermont or in the middle of Manhattan or the Bronx, that virus is going to take advantage of that,” Fauci said. 

State public health officials have stressed that in reopening schools, the status of the community at large is important to gauge whether cases will turn up in school communities. The state Health Department each week updates a town-by-town map showing the cumulative number of cases across the state since it began tracking COVID-19 March 5. 

In the Harwood Union school district, the number of cases is low overall. Duxbury and Fayston for example have had no positive cases reported. When there are fewer than six cases in a town, the state reports that data as 1-5. Moretown, Waitsfield and Warren have all been in the 1-5 category since spring.

Waterbury is the town with the most cases. That figure increased to 11 this week. It had been six cases from spring until August when two new cases were added; that increased to 11 the week the cases emerged at Crossett Brook. The state Department of Health website has much more detailed information on all aspects of the COVID-19 status in Vermont.

 Q&A session Monday 

As the new week begins, school administrators and school board leaders will host another online question-and-answer forum Monday starting at 6:30 p.m. The public can join via Zoom or watch on the district’s YouTube channel. Details on how to view and participate are on the HUUSD.org homepage. 

The school board also meets on Wednesday, Sept. 23, using the same online platforms. Details on the meeting agenda and viewing options are on HUUSD.org under Board heading.