KINDERHOOK—Ichabod Crane 4th through 12th graders will continue taking classes online on Thursday, October 29 while the district waits for results from Covid-19 tests on middle and high school students. On Sunday, the district was told by the County Department of Health (DOH) that a primary school student had tested positive for Covid-19. The district closed the primary school—K-3rd grades—and moved all students in the middle and high school to online classes.
On Tuesday, the primary school opened to all classes but the one with the positive case. The district sent out an email saying that students in that class will work online with their teacher and “will need to quarantine for the required 14-day period.”
The district announced that they were waiting for testing on middle and high school students that had come in close contact with the primary school student. On Wednesday, an email was sent to parents saying, “While we had hoped to have these results back today, the Department of Health has indicated it may not be until tomorrow or later this evening. At this time we have decided to err on the side of caution and continue with the current plan for Thursday, October 29.”
In the middle school and high school, students are split into two groups, A and B, which attend school on Monday/Tuesday or Thursday/Friday. The A group (Monday/Tuesday) moved online at the beginning of the week due to the case and now the B group will not be attending school on Thursday. All staff in those buildings were also asked to stay home on Wednesday, which is normally a day that all middle and high school students work online.
The email on October 28 says, “All Ichabod Crane staff and faculty may report to their buildings for work unless they are currently placed under quarantine.”
On Tuesday, parents received an email from school Superintendent Suzanne Guntlow about contact tracing, saying that if a symptom free individual is notified that they have had direct or proximate contact with a confirmed case, they will be required to be under quarantine as a precaution. But a spouse, child or other household member of that person is considered a “contact of a contact” and per DOH guidance does not need to quarantine.
The state health department guidance states that a contact to a contact is ‘not at risk for infection and would not be subject to quarantine unless the contact to the confirmed case had or developed symptoms, or tested positive for the virus causing Covid-19,’” the email reads.
Ms. Guntlow goes on to say that “out of an abundance of extreme caution, a number of Middle and High School students and staff were placed on a precautionary quarantine while close contacts of the positive student are being tested.” But the email stresses that if anyone in a household who has been quarantined begins showing any Covid related symptoms, “please be sure to keep their siblings at home and contact your building principal or school nurse ASAP to discuss proper procedures.”
