Dear EMS Community,

An individual in our learning community was identified as having COVID-19. We worked with the Department of Health to identify who potentially came in close contact with the positive person and have communicated with those people/families directly. Official Vermont Department of Health guidance will continue to be given to those in close contact regarding quarantining and testing.

If you or your family were not contacted by the district or the Vermont Department of Health, you have not been determined to be a close contact. If you have questions around COVID-19, please call your primary care provider, access the Vermont Department of Health Guidance on their website, or call the Vermont Department of Health at 802-863-7240.

We will continue to work with the Health Department to keep our community safe. Our school is cleaned daily and disinfected per the Health Department guidance. While we have temporarily moved the impacted students to remote learning, the rest of EMS will be open as usual. We will continue implementing the mitigation strategies of morning temperature checks, mask wearing, physical distancing, surface disinfecting, and hand washing. We will also continue to focus upon maintaining pod integrity. Please talk with your child regarding the ways these strategies are designed to keep them and the entire community safe and healthy. Also, if your child exhibits any COVID symptoms, please keep them home. Staying home when sick is the most important mitigation strategy.

We recognize that open communication is vital and we are committed to providing our community with accurate and up-to-date information, while also adhering to laws that prohibit the release of confidential information and protect the privacy of our students and staff. Thank you for understanding that due to medical privacy laws, we are not able to release the name of the individual with COVID-19.

We recommend that everyone takes action to help limit the spread of COVID-19, even if your child is not experiencing symptoms. Please keep in mind that what you do with your family outside of school also impacts our school community's health. If your family is following state guidelines around multi-family gatherings and travel, as well as adhering to mitigation strategies, you are doing your part to help keep schools open.

If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to our school nurse and District COVID-19 Coordinator, Rebecca McCray rmccray@bsdvt.org, with any questions.

Take care,

James Kiefer

Principal Edmunds Middle School