Good afternoon. It has come to the attention of the school that a student has tested positive for COVID-19. The student has not been in school during the believed  infectious period. However, we are notifying all SSCPS families in case anyone in your family starts to display symptoms of COVID-19. Those symptoms include:

• Fever (100.0° Fahrenheit or higher), chills, or shaking chills
• Cough (not due to other know cause, such as chronic cough
  
• Difficulty breathing or shortness of breath
  
• New loss of taste or smell
  
• Sore throat
  
• Headache, when in combination with other symptoms
  
• Muscle aches or body aches
  
• Nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea
  
• Fatigue, when in combination with other symptoms
  
• Nasal congestion or runny nose (not due to other known causes, such as allergies) when in combination with other symptoms

Though we cannot provide specific information about our school community member who tested positive, your child was not a close contact in our school environment.  The Massachusetts Department of Public Health defines close contact as:

• Being within 6 feet of a COVID-19 case (someone who has tested positive) for 10-15 minutes. Close contact can occur while caring for, living with, visiting, or sharing a healthcare waiting area or room with a COVID-19 case while the case was symptomatic or within 2 days before symptom onset, or
  
• Having direct contact with infectious secretions of a COVID-19 case (e.g. being coughed on) while not wearing recommended personal protective equipment. 

Our first priority is to keep our school community safe. In response to this situation, our Health Office has followed all local Public Health, MDPH, and DESE guidelines and protocols. Because the school has transitioned to full remote learning for most of our student population, there is no additional action required at this time. However, should additional communication  become necessary,  we will share that with you. 
Please do not hesitate to contact the Health  Office with any health questions you may have. 
Sincerely,
Susan Dupras [email protected]

REMINDER TO ALL 7th GRADE FAMILIES:
All students in grade 7 must submit an current physical including immunizations. 

Last week we made the transition to full remote learning due to the number of sending districts that had turned red. Due to thirteen sending districts being classified as red, including our top sending districts, we will be continuing the online learning model for the upcoming week, October 19-23, 2020.

Every Wednesday, the state releases a Weekly COVID-19 Public Health Report. The weekly report provides the count and rate of confirmed COVID-19 cases and tests, including the daily incidence rate in Massachusetts cities and towns over the last two weeks. We use this data as one way to determine if our school needs to transition to full remote learning. If over 25 percent of our student population municipalities turn red, the school will transition to or sustain full remote learning. 

This week's report was published a few minutes ago. The following sending districts have been deemed red by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health:
Abington
Brockton
East Bridgewater
Hanover
Hansen
Hingham
Kingston
Marshfield
Pembroke
Plymouth
Randolph
Rockland
Weymouth

Our top sending districts in terms of student population are as follows: 
Weymouth 26%        
Randolph 21%          
Brockton 11%
Rockland 9%
Hanover 3%

These calculations mean the following:
Weymouth red = Full Remote Learning
Randolph + Rockland red = Full Remote Learning
Brockton + Randolph red = Full Remote Learning

District student percentage must add up to 25% or more to activate the transition to full remote learning. 

The school will transition back to hybrid and in-person learning once the COVID-19 testing positivity rate goes down and the sending district(s) is/are coded yellow, green, or grey the Monday following the release of the calculations. Unfortunately, that did not happen this evening and we will continue with our full remote learning model.
We will be sending additional email notification to all families this evening with tonight's updates regarding the current COVID-19 district metrics. Please be sure your contact information has been updated with the school by completing your emergency contact information. 

Thank you for your ongoing patience and support. 

Dear SSCPS Families,

We have just received some challenging news from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health.  Every Wednesday, the state releases a Weekly COVID-19 Public Health Report. This weekly report provides the count and rate of confirmed COVID-19 cases and tests, including the daily incidence rate in Massachusetts cities and towns over the last two weeks. We will use this data as one way to determine if our school needs to transition to full remote learning. 

The Weekly COVID-19 Public Health Report has been released. Here is some of the data from the report released this evening:

Brockton 8.9 (Red)
Kingston 9.0 (Red)
Plymouth 9.3 (Red)
Randolph 8.6 (Red)

Because of the high percentage of students coming from districts which have transitioned from yellow to red, we will be making plans to close our buildings and transition to remote learning over the next two days. Because of the difficulty in communication created by this evening's power outages, for tomorrow we will be keeping with the status quo of full in person, remote, and hybrid. Please plan for full remote learning to begin on Friday. However, all families have the option of keeping their children home tomorrow to participate in remote learning. 

We will keep you updated as this situation progresses. 
Sincerely,
Alicia