Board of Education Chair Michelle Embree Ku said on November 4 that keeping community spread levels of COVID-19 low is important with the priority of keeping students in school buildings.

Following an announcement earlier in the week that individuals at three schools had tested positive for COVID-19, Ku and Superintendent of Schools Dr Lorrie Rodrigue both discussed the pandemic and its impact on the school community at the board’s November 4 virtual meeting.

Ku said she wants to make sure that everyone in the community is aware of the current rise in cases of COVID-19, both in town and in surrounding towns.

“Newtown has done a great job, but we interact with communities around us,” Ku said. “And we need to make sure that as parents and community members we are responding to the increase in the community or our schools are going to have to respond by closing down activity very quickly.”

Newtown High School and Newtown Middle School continue to be on a hybrid schedule model, with students attending school in the buildings in rotating cohorts, with no students in those schools on Wednesdays. Both schools were set to have students return full time to the buildings on November 2, but on October 29 the decision was made to delay the full return. At the time, Rodrigue wrote in a letter to parents and staff, “Data from the Connecticut Department of Public Health, including rising cases in the Newtown community, have led to recent concerns.”

Elementary and intermediate school students are fully in school, except for students whose families have opted to have them learn remotely. Elementary and intermediate school students returned to school buildings full time on October 5 after starting the year with a hybrid schedule.

“Our schools have really effective protocols in place, but they are subject to what is happening in the community,” Ku said on November 4. “...I’m hoping the community and parents take the time to think about this. Scale back on eating inside restaurants, for example, with friends, or going into other people’s homes. And, also, I think it is time for us to voluntarily limit our own children’s activities that go on outside of school.”

Ku also said the school board would “once again” be meeting mostly virtually, as it was doing for the November 4 meeting, whenever possible, to limit in-person interactions.

“I just think that if school is going to be a priority for us, we need to keep our community levels of spread low,” said Ku.

While some individuals, including Hawley Elementary School administration and staff, were asked to quarantine this week due to contact tracing related to the recent COVID-19 cases in three Newtown schools, Rodrigue said she feels strongly, based on communication with the local health district, about keeping the younger students in school at this time.

“Safety is our priority, so there may come a time when [keeping the younger students in school] is just not feasible,” said Rodrigue. “It has not happened yet.”

Rodrigue said the spread levels of COVID-19 are monitored locally and in the surrounding areas, and it is easier to limit student interactions in cohorts at the younger ages than for Newtown’s older students.

Newtown’s contact tracing efforts, Rodrigue observed, have been efficient.

“I think that is kudos to parents and the community for providing that information,” said Rodrigue of why the contact tracing has been effective.

Later, Rodrigue said the district plans to release a letter before the upcoming holidays to gently remind community members about safety precautions ahead of traveling, seeing family members, or having college students return home.

“We just want to make sure that people continue to be vigilant. I think that, again, is a very important factor when it comes to the spread of the virus,” said Rodrigue.

A look at other topics covered at the November 4 Board of Education meeting will be available in the November 13 print edition of The Newtown Bee.