After one person at Windsor Elementary School tested positive for COVID-19 and a separate probable case was identified, all four RSU 12 schools switched to remote learning from Friday, Oct. 2 through Tuesday, Oct. 6.
Superintendent Howard Tuttle declined to say if the people involved are students or staff.
Students returned to in-person learning Wednesday, Oct. 7. Tuttle said in a phone interview Friday, Oct. 2 that students who may have had direct contact with the person who tested positive or the person with the probable case would get tested throughout the weekend, and the test results would determine whether students could return to school Wednesday.
RSU 12 includes the towns of Alna, Chelsea, Palermo, Somerville, Westport Island, Whitefield, and Windsor. The district has four elementary schools: Chelsea Elementary, Palermo Consolidated, Whitefield Elementary, and Windsor Elementary, as well as a prekindergarten program at the Somerville School.
Through contact tracing, administrators have determined that people at all four schools may have been exposed to the person who tested positive.
Families of students who came into direct contact with the positive individual and the presumed positive individual were contacted directly by their school.
According to an Oct. 1 letter from Tuttle, close contacts of those individuals have been asked to quarantine for 14 days from their last exposure. Tuttle did not know how many people are considered close contacts.
“A negative test result does not get an individual out of quarantine,” Tuttle wrote.
All schools and buses were cleaned during the remote period, the letter said, and administrators will monitor testing results.
Lincoln County is still classified as “green” by the Maine Department of Education, meaning in-person education is permitted. Kennebec and Waldo counties, where the other RSU 12 schools are located, are green as well.
