Josiah Haynes Elementary School
January 4, 2022
What a year it's been this week.
I'm attaching this week's official COVID-19 pool results and positive case letters. Here are the headlines:
- Over December break, 11 students and 5 staff members tested positive.
- On Monday, 6 students and 3 staff members tested positive.
- Our pool testing sampling from yesterday identified 8 out of our 54 pools testing positive. We are identifying the positive cases in each pool using BinexNOW rapid reflex testing.
- As of this writing, there are 23 students and 7 staff members positive for COVID-19 who are out of school.
The numbers speak for themselves. We are seeing more individuals sick, infected or both than we have to this point in the pandemic, and we are adjusting our practices to continue to meet the needs of our students in the midst of this current challenge. I am grateful to our team of educators for the dedication, investment and flexibility in supporting their students, families and one another. I am especially grateful to our team of testers and contact tracers, led by Haynes Nurse Lisa Nigrelli.
When students are sick, their first priority and main focus is resting and feeling better. For children who test positive for COVID or are close contacts who require quarantine, teachers will organize and provide activities or schoolwork for the student. This preparation requires a good deal of time on the part of our teachers, so please do not expect work from your child's class immediately. Teachers will provide links, resources, activities, assignments, or some combination thereof, in addition to the opportunity for a live daily connection. If your child is sick, or if engaging in such work on quarantine would not work for your family, please let your child's teacher know as soon as possible at the start of the absence.
If you haven't yet, please click here to sign up for in-school testing (should your child be identified as a close contact). You can also use this link to upload your child(ren)'s vaccination status.
Families can always access our latest COVID case counts by visiting the SPS Covid Data Dashboard.
We will continue to closely follow our layered mitigation strategies, and will be in touch with you if your child is impacted in any way, or if any changes to our practice or program are necessary. Please keep your children home if they are sick and get a COVID test if they have symptoms. Managing the spread is a team effort and we appreciate your partnership.
As always, please be in touch with any questions or concerns.
Sincerely,
Jeff LaBroad
Jeffrey A. LaBroad, Principal
Email: jeffrey_labroad@sudbury.k12.ma.us
Website: sudbury.k12.ma.us/haynes
Location: 169 Haynes Road, Sudbury, MA, USA
Phone: 978-443-1093
Twitter: @MrLaBroad