Weare superintendent, administrators cover for staff members after COVID-19 clusters
Other schools plan to begin testing programs
Other schools plan to begin testing programs
Other schools plan to begin testing programs
Administrators in one New Hampshire school district are covering for school staff members who contracted COVID-19 from classroom exposures.
Weare Superintendent Jacqueline Coe and other administrators were staffing classrooms Monday because of COVID-19 infections among staff members, district officials said.
In a letter, Coe cited two clusters at Center Woods School, where at least 10 people were COVID-positive while in the building last week.
"At this point, very few people in the Weare School District are wearing masks in the building, even though many individuals have been notified that they are confirmed close contacts," Coe said in a letter. "Based on our plan and mandates from the Department of Education, we have no intention to shift to remote learning."
The Bedford School District is just emerging from a COVID-19 outbreak at Memorial Elementary School.
"We had what was considered an outbreak, so we masked up for 14 days," said Superintendent Mike Fournier.
Officials said targeted masking is a mitigation strategy that's working. Asymptomatic testing soon will be available in Bedford schools, starting with staff members.
"Once we do that, we will open it up to other groups," Fournier said. "So, sports teams, grade levels, classrooms."
Fournier said federal funding will cover the expenses, and students will need parental consent. He acknowledged that COVID-19 fatigue is setting in, especially surrounding what he calls "mask wars."
"That's the thing that is really distracting from teaching kids, is to be constantly talking about masks when you really want to be talking about reading and writing and math," Fournier said.
Fournier said when a student tests positive, school staffers ask the family if they have been vaccinated. He said most, but not all, of the cases are in unvaccinated students.