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Thirty students and 21 staff members in the William Floyd School District tested positive for COVID-19 during the 13-day holiday break, the district reported today.
The 51 people will not be allowed to return to school and work until they receive medical clearance, according to a statement released by the district. Contact tracing has been completed and anyone deemed to have been in close contact with the affected individuals has been notified of the quarantine requirements.
Despite the new influx of cases, the district will carry on next week with its plan to begin phasing in its four-day, in-person school week for grades 9, 10 and 11 at William Floyd High School.
Each of the newly quarantined students and staffers have not been to school or work since before the winter break started on Dec. 23.
Here’s a breakdown of the positive COVID-19 cases from the holiday break:
- William Floyd High School: nine students and four staff members.
- Floyd Academy: two staff members.
- William Paca Middle School: five students and five staff members.
- William Floyd Middle School: five students and three staff members.
- Nathaniel Woodhull Elementary School: seven students and one staff member.
- Moriches Elementary School: three students.
- William Floyd Elementary School: one student and two staff members.
- Tangier Smith Elementary School: two staff members.
- John S. Hobart Elementary School: two staff members.
“The district will continue to diligently deep clean and sanitize all buildings each night after in-person learning,” read the district’s statement on the newly reported cases. “For those who use district transportation, buses are also cleaned after morning and afternoon routes by our transportation companies.”
Meanwhile, freshmen and juniors at the high school will return to school in-person four days per week, starting Monday, Jan. 11. Sophomores will start going in person four days a week, beginning Tuesday, Jan. 19, after the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.
Wednesdays will continue to remain an all-virtual day.
Students in kindergarten through eighth grade, along with seniors at the high school, have already started attending in-person classes four days per week.
“Along with data from the health department stating that schools are the safest places to be, now is the time to get our remaining two-day hybrid high school students back in school four days per week,” Superintendent Kevin M. Coster said. “Students learn best in person and this is the next step in our ultimate goal of getting our students back to in-person school five days per week.”
The all-virtual option will continue to be available to students and their families, the district said.
