UPDATE: The Williston Schools announced late Monday afternoon that schools will remain closed on Tuesday and plan to reopen Wednesday.
Schools in Williston and the Windham Southwest School District are closed Monday, in response to concerns about the coronavirus.
The school closures, the first in the state, come after the first Vermont patient tested positive for COVID-19 on Saturday. As of Monday, 28 Vermonters had tested negative for the virus, according to the Department of Health; the state is monitoring 224.
Administrators from both schools asked students to stay home after concerns that staff and students had been exposed to the virus. A Williston teacher attended a conference in Boston last week, where several attendees in the same hotel she stayed in tested positive for the virus, according to Bonnie Birdsall, director of digital learning and communication for the Champlain Valley School District.
Students from Windham Southwest may have been indirectly exposed to the coronavirus in Stamford and nearby communities, according to a press release from the school.
Administrators at Allen Brook School and Williston Central School made the decision out of “an abundance of caution,” according to Birdsall. The teacher who may have been exposed had cold-like symptoms. She was in contact with her doctor and the Department of Health, and planned to self-isolate until she was cleared by her doctor to be back in school.
The school plans to open again on Tuesday, though it will update families Monday night, Birdsall said.
[Get live updates on COVID-19 in Vermont at vtdigger.org/coronavirus.]
The school is considering online learning options in the case of future closures. Birdsall, who is in charge of that planning, said she was holding meetings today about remote alternatives such as online or video learning. “Meetings are happening where you have all these scenarios on the table,” she said.
The Agency of Education is working on guidance for schools to respond to a possible outbreak of the coronavirus. Those plans would include guidance parameters to help school administrators decide when to close, how to manage school meals, and any impact of closure on summer break, Agency Secretary Dan French told reporters at a press conference last week.
That guidance may be released as early as this week. School closures weren’t yet necessary, French said last week.
Administrators at Windham Southwest schools, which include Twin Valley elementary, middle and high schools as well as Readsboro, Halifax and Stamford schools, made the decision Sunday night after hearing about possible exposure. “This will give us an opportunity to further assess the situation,” administrators wrote in the release. The Department of Health told staff at Stamford Elementary that closure wouldn’t be necessary, according to a posting on the school’s website. Still, staff would give the school a deep cleaning just to be sure.
The schools are in the vicinity of the first presumed positive test; the individual, who is in stable condition, is currently hospitalized at Southwestern Medical Center in Bennington.
Windham Southwest schools also plan to reopen Tuesday.
