Dear North Reading Public Schools Community,

Thank you for all of your support to make our hybrid model the best it can possibly be for our students. As we look ahead to the New Year, please continue to guide our students to make the best choices for New Year’s celebrations with respect to gatherings and events. Taking a careful approach is our best avenue for continued success and remaining open.

COVID-19 Updates

Please note that while school is in session we are continuing to share the student and staff positive cases as they are reported. However, as we are closed this week, I will be compiling the figures received over the break and communicate them upon our return. To date there have only been a handful of unrelated cases reported and there has not been a need for contact tracing or additional quarantines since we have not been in school since December 18^th.

It is important to note that we are still not seeing concerning evidence of transmission within the schools.

Most transmission continues to occur at home or in other situations where individuals are inside and without masks and unaware that one person who is a close contact has been exposed to COVID-19. Please continue to wear masks, physically distance, and wash hands frequently in order to control transmission.

Returning to School on January 4th

As you may be aware, many schools and districts are remaining in full remote in the days after the winter break. Many of these districts are seeing evidence of transmission in school or are seeing numbers that do not allow for enough adults to be present to safely reopen school. I have checked in with our Principals and we do not believe that this is a concern at this time and we hope that our staff remains healthy and safe in the coming weeks.

When we return, please continue to use our Daily Health Screener and also comply with all associated aspects of the Massachusetts Travel Order. It is critical that anyone who feels ill stays home and anyone who has traveled stays home until the quarantine/testing travel guidance is met. Our principals and nurses will be able to assist with any questions.

At this time we are closely monitoring the numbers for the Town of North Reading and the rate of transmission in our schools. As I have stated previously, even as the Town remains in “red” and as the rate of transmission is low, our schools will remain open as they continue to be safe places for our staff and students. This fact was confirmed again this week in our weekly meeting with the Town Public Health Nurse, Director of Public Heath, Town Administrator, and Police and Fire Chiefs.

Student Learning Time

The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education released today a dashboard for student learning time.  The data reported reflects the efforts of our teachers, students, families, and administrators to provide the best in person and remote learning opportunities possible for our students in our current hybrid model.

Once again, thank you all for your incredible support this year and have a wonderful and safe New Year’s celebration as we welcome 2021!

Be well,

Dr. Daly

Dear Parents, Families, and Caregivers,

Thank you for all of your support to make our hybrid model the best it can possibly be for our students. I wish you all the Happiest of Holiday Seasons. I hope that you are all able to relax and enjoy the time with your family.

I wanted to provide a few updates as we head into the winter break.

COVID-19 Updates

Please note that we are continuing to share the student and staff positive cases as they are reported. As there is an increase in the number of individuals in North Reading who are testing positive it follows that there is an increase in the number of staff and students who also test positive.

It is important to note that we are still not seeing concerning evidence of transmission within the schools.

So, for example, when my report indicates that there are four new cases at one school that does not necessarily mean that these students have passed it to one another at school.

We are still seeing most transmission occurring at the home or in other situations where individuals are inside and without masks and unaware that one person who is a close contact has been exposed to COVID-19.

Quarantine and Contact Tracing

It is as important now as ever to follow the instructions of the public health nurse and/or school nurses who have informed close contacts of the need to quarantine. Each person doing his or her part is the best way for us to move beyond these challenging weeks and to keep our schools open and our activities running.

Whenever the district or town learns of a positive case we begin the process for contact tracing. We follow Department of Public Health and CDC guidelines for contact tracing and go back two days from the date of the test (not the date results are received) or two days from the onset of symptoms. We then decide which other staff and students are close contacts and follow up with those individuals and families to provide the details of the quarantine period.

A large part of the reason why our schools were in remote this week was to allow for more time between the holiday breaks and the last time students and staff were together in person. This decision has helped us to lessen the need for contact tracing over the holidays and through the winter break.

When we return, please continue to use our Daily Health Screener and also comply with all associated aspects of the Massachusetts Travel Order.

Influenza Vaccine

Thank you to everyone who has complied with the Massachusetts requirement for students to receive the influenza vaccine. Your actions have made our students and schools safer this fall and allowed our nurses to focus on the needs related to COVID-19.

For those who are still in need of receiving the vaccine (or if you are seeking a religious or medical exemption) please contact your school nurse. The deadline for compliance has now been extended by Massachusetts until February 28, 2021. We ask that you continue to comply as soon as possible so that we are able to assure that your records are updated in our system.

All students will be able to return to our hybrid model on January 4^th. Those who are still in need of the influenza vaccine should take the steps to be vaccinated (or for the exemptions) as soon as possible.

Returning to School in January

As you may be aware, many schools and districts are remaining in full remote in the days after the winter break. Many of these districts faced many issues with staff and students following the Thanksgiving holiday.

It is critically important that our entire school community limits travel and gatherings during this winter break in order to ensure a safe return in January.

At this time we are closely monitoring the numbers for the Town of North Reading and the rate of transmission in our schools. As I have stated previously, even if the Town remains in “red” and the rate of transmission is low, our schools will remain open as they continue to be safe places for our staff and students. This fact was confirmed yesterday in our weekly meeting with the town public health nurse, town administrator, and police and fire chief.

Another reason that could impact our ability to reopen would be not having enough staff to open a building safely. We are hoping that this will not be a concern and that our staff remains healthy and safe in the coming weeks.

If anything changes with respect to our return to the hybrid model on January 4^th I will be sure to communicate this information in as timely a manner as possible.

Once again, thank you all for your incredible support this year and have a wonderful holiday season!

Be well,

Dr. Daly

December 11, 2020 Updates

 Dear North Reading Public Schools Community,

I'm writing today to provide a few important updates that were discussed at last evening's School Committee meeting related to COVID-19 communication, testing, the influenza vaccine, and our Performing Arts classes and activities.

COVID-19 COMMUNICATION

As you are aware the district has been in the practice of sending an email update for any new positive cases for staff or students. As the numbers increase it is important that we continue to communicate this information to you but I am concerned about "fatigue" from receiving so many of these important emails. However, it was decided at the meeting last night that these emails would continue as they ultimately provide everyone in the community the information needed to make decisions for their families.

In addition, we have published a dashboard to provide the updated numbers of positive staff and students by school. This information is on the District Website under the COVID-19 Updates page and also available directly here.

To date, to my knowledge, we have not had any signs of transmission in our schools. When we communicate that a staff member or students has not been in school recently, this is meant to assure those in that school community that there is not a need for contact tracing in the schools related to that case. In other circumstances, if the staff member or student has been in school, there is a need to contact trace and possibly quarantine individuals who are within six feet for a period of 15 minutes.

We will be following the latest science and updates from the Department of Public Health and Department of Elementary and Secondary Education with respect to the quarantine periods required for those close contacts and positive cases. As always, thank you to our school nurses for sharing this information with all close contacts and positive individuals and providing the support to everyone involved.

COVID-19 TESTING

Thank you to everyone who participated in the feedback survey and viewed the informational presentations this week. The support from educators and families was about 85% in favor of the district taking the additional steps to pursue the BinaxNOW Antigen Testing. Given that the costs associated with these steps are very low (the tests themselves will be available at no cost) the School Committee approved the district to to the explore the next steps to join the Phase 1 of this testing trial. More information and details will be forthcoming with the hope of implementing soon in the new year.

The most important aspect to communicate is that this test will only be used for symptomatic individuals and it is still critically important that students and staff who are not feeling well must continue to remain home. This message will be reiterated as we move forward with this process. We will also continue to pursue any other future opportunities related to testing. 

INFLUENZA VACCINE FOR STUDENTS

Thank you to everyone who has already provided the updated influenza vaccine information to our school nurses. If you have not done so already please be sure to have this information to our school nurses no later than December 18, 2020. There is an existing mandate requiring all students to receiving the influenza vaccine prior to December 31, 2020. There are certain medical and religious exemptions that can be discussed with your school nurse as well.

PERFORMING ARTS UPDATE

​​​At the secondary level our performing arts courses (chorus, band, etc.) have been conducting most of their classes outdoors in order to comply with the safety guidelines from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and National Music Associations. As the weather conditions make it impossible to continue outdoor learning on most days we have worked with the K-12 Curriculum Leader, Carla Lister, as well as Allison Kane and other performing arts educators as a part of our Fine Arts subcommittee to develop the safest practices and procedures for conducting these activities indoors. We have identified the spaces and necessary safety precautions to continue our performing arts classes indoors following all guidelines for physical distancing and other restrictions. These classes will begin indoors on December 14, 2020 in carefully identified areas and we do not anticipate any concerns related to this well researched endeavour. Thank you our Performing Arts educators, especially Ms. Lister and Ms. Kane, for their very thorough and detailed work on this process which will allow all of our students to continue with these performing arts opportunities.

As always, thank you to everyone in our school community for their continued support and patience throughout all of the challenges this fall as we continue to provide the best supports possible for our students.

Be well,

Dr. Daly

COVID-19 Testing Video and Survey

 Dear staff, parents, families, and caregivers,

Thank you to those who were able to join our information session last evening. If you have not had a chance to do so, there is a YouTube link below for the presentation.

There is also a link to a survey that will be used to learn more about your interest in having the schools pursue this opportunity. Please view/review this information session prior to completing this survey. All information shared via this survey will assist us in making an informed decision about our participation in the BinaxNOW Clinical Study. 

If you could please view the presentation and complete the survey by Thursday evening at 5pm that will allow this information to be shared at our School Committee meeting that evening.

Presentation link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKbL9Ei6Ai0 (approx. 30 mins)

Survey Link: https://forms.gle/LBFACcppC7cgwWWi8

Thank you,

Dr. Daly

 Around the Schoolyard

COVID-19 Testing 

Patrick C. Daly, Ed.D. 

Superintendent of Schools,  North Reading Public Schools

This week I will be sharing information with the North Reading Public Schools Community about an opportunity to explore COVID-19 testing for symptomatic staff and students in our schools. This initiative is a part of a larger initiative from The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Department of Defense (DOD) who recently announced “an initiative to deliver 150 million Abbott BinaxNOW COVID-19 Ag Card Point of Care (POC) SARS-CoV-2 rapid diagnostic tests to schools and other strategic environments.”

The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) has informed districts of the opportunity to participate in Phase I of this trial as Massachusetts “will obtain approximately 2 million tests for use in priority settings including but not limited to public districts, charter schools, educational collaboratives, and approved special education schools.”

 

DESE explains that “Phase I is intended for districts and schools providing any type of in-person instruction, such as full-in person or hybrid instructional models or in-person services for high needs students.” 

What would this process look like in our schools?

Currently, when a student or staff member is in school and presents symptoms of COVID-19, the person is assessed by the school nurse and then dismissed and instructed to take a PCR test, which is the “gold standard” for diagnosing COVID-19. Following receipt of those test results the district is able to respond to any positive cases and begin the process of contact tracing. However, it can sometimes take up to 2-3 days to receive this information. 

If the district were to participate in the BinaxNOW initiative we would have access to the rapid tests, which are antigen tests, and we would have the results within 15 minutes. Both positive and negative tests would require follow up tests, but since the “false positive rate” is quite low we would be able to identify positive individuals, and their close contacts, much more quickly and act accordingly to isolate and quarantine those individuals.  

Should students and staff still remain home if they are sick?

Absolutely! Having this additional resource in our schools should in no way impact whether staff or students should attend school or work if they have symptoms. However, it is possible that students or staff may begin to exhibit symptoms during the school day and this is when this in-school testing would be utilized.

Will all staff and students be required to participate?

We will confirm that there is an opt-out process for students or staff who do not wish to participate or provide consent for testing. These students and staff would follow our current procedures and be dismissed from school and await the results of the PCR test.

What are the next steps in the process?

I will be hosting a forum on December 8th for parents, guardians, and staff and presenting at the Board of Health on December 9th and at the North Reading School Committee on December 10th. This Around the Schoolyard article is an additional communication to the community about our exploration of this opportunity. Recordings of the December 8th presentation as well as the School Committee meeting will be available on the district’s website in the coming days.

We will consider input from parents, students, staff, administrators, and educators, as well as the Public Health experts and School Committee as we make this decision. There are a series of checklist items that we would need to complete in order to participate, including a standing order issued by our District Physician and a certificate of waiver from the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA).

Thank you to our entire school community

Finally, I would like to thank our students, families, and all of the staff in North Reading for their  support this year. Since this pandemic began our Town Administrator, Police Chief, Fire Chief, Public Health Nurse, Director of Public Health and I meet at least weekly to discuss all matters related to COVID-19 and our community.  Our school nurses and school physician have been so helpful in our decision making process and in their tireless efforts every single day. I truly appreciate the collective efforts of everyone involved in helping us make our school environment as safe as possible for our students and staff.

More information about the BinaxNOW testing is available here: https://www.doe.mass.edu/covid19/BinaxNOW/

COVID-19 BinaxNOW testing opportunity


The North Reading Public Schools are in the initial stages of exploring an opportunity to have COVID-19 testing available for symptomatic students and staff. The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and The Department of Public Health have collaborated on this opportunity that is currently being explored by approximately 160 Massachusetts school districts.


To be clear, no decisions have yet been made about this opportunity. We believe that we need to do our due diligence and explore this opportunity and we wish to solicit input and feedback from all stakeholders to inform our decisions.


This antigen test would be used only for symptomatic students and staff to help determine more rapidly whether a person is positive. These results will assist with contact tracing and provide more data to efficiently guide the positive person to isolation and to determine those who need to quarantine as close contacts.


There would be opt-out provisions for staff and families concerned with the sharing of data and/or for consenting to testing. In those cases the students or staff would just continue to follow our current protocol.


We understand that there will be many questions about this testing opportunity and there will be three opportunities to learn more this upcoming week:


                    Tuesday, December 8th at 7pm                     Staff/Parent Information Forum


                    Wednesday, December 9th at 7pm                     Board of Health Meeting
                                                                                        (direct link available next week)


                        Thursday, December 10th at 6:30pm         North Reading School Committee


Please note:


The Staff/Parent Information Program will focus on this one topic and will begin promptly at 7pm.


The other public meetings will have additional agenda items and this topic will be covered only at the time allotted in the agenda.


The staff/parent forum and school committee meetings will be recorded and posted on our website and/or shared for those who are unable to attend.


Thank you for all of your ongoing support.


Sincerely yours,


Dr. Daly