Important Information February 18, 2021

Important Information February 18, 2021
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February 18, 2021

Dear Parents, Caregivers, and Guardians,


I hope you are all enjoying the February Vacation! I am pleased to let you know that we will be continuing with in-person learning/hybrid for the upcoming week of school (February 22-26, 2021) for ALL students. Students enrolled in the STGRSD online full remote learning, will remain fully remote through the end of the school year.

Please see below for important updates to the Hampden County positivity rate, revision to our MOA, and about a positive case of COVID-19 in our school community.

Hampden County % Positivity Rate
The Massachusetts Department of Public Health COVID-19 County-Level Data Reporting for February 17, 2021 identified the Hampden County Percent Positivity Rate as 4.86%. This drop below the 5% threshold means that we are no longer in the exclusionary period identified in item 3 of the Memorandum of Agreement COVID-19 School/District Closure Metrics 2.0. This, coupled with the low incident rate of COVID-19 in our in-person/hybrid population, means that even if we have new positive cases in our in-person/hybrid population, our schools can remain open for in-person/hybrid learning.

Revised MOA Affecting Closing Metrics
At Tuesday’s School Committee Meeting, the Memorandum of Agreement with the Southwick-Tolland-Granville Education Association (teacher’s union) was approved that modifies the Memorandum of Agreement COVID-19 School/District Closure Metrics 2.0 to define “incident” for COVID-19 cases in a school as someone who has been in the building during their “infectious period”. This means that if the District is in the exclusionary period (item #3 in the MOA), a COVID-19 positive for someone who has not been in the buildings will not result in automatic school or program closure.

Copies of both the old and new MOAs are available on the District website:
https://www.stgrsd.org/about_s_t_g_r_s_d/c_o_v_i_d-19

COVID-19 Positive Case at Southwick Regional School (7-12)
We have been notified that one person in our Southwick Regional School (7-12) community has tested positive for COVID-19. This case is unrelated to any other cases that we have previously reported and this person was not in the building during their “infectious period”.

As always, we thank you for your continued vigilance and adherence to the COVID-19 prevention protocols which help protect our community members and keep our school buildings open for student learning: wear a mask, practice social distancing, wash your hands often and stay home if you are sick.

We are in this together.

Enjoy the rest of the week. I look forward to seeing everyone on Monday!

Sincerely,
Jennifer Willard
Superintendent of Schools
Southwick-Tolland-Granville Regional School District