Superintendent of Schools Dr Lorrie Rodrigue announced in a letter to parents and staff on January 8 that cases of COVID-19 at Newtown High School and Newtown Middle School have resulted in quarantining students and staff.

The superintendent’s letter follows.

Dear Parents and Staff:

Currently, we have COVID cases at both Newtown High School (three) and Newtown Middle School (two) which have resulted in quarantining students and staff in both schools. In addition, a positive case in our NELC program (in-house staff daycare/preschool) warranted additional quarantining of staff. Based on contact tracing in partnership with our local health department, those who needed to quarantine have already been contacted. Those individuals will be working remotely, and we will continue to utilize our pool of building and daily substitutes to cover classes, as needed. While this continues to be our greatest struggle, we have managed to cover those areas that require staffing. We welcome any community members and parents who would like to sign up as substitutes for Newtown Public Schools. You can access our application online at applitrack.com/newtown/onlineapp.

We will continue to upload the EdAdvance report on our website detailing weekly COVID information and trends for Newtown and Fairfield County. Our Nursing Supervisor and COVID liaison will continue to post information on cases and numbers quarantining on the District COVID Dashboard. Information on the dashboard includes additional cases where no school exposure occurred. You will continue to receive notice of any positive case in the school setting which results in exposure and results in quarantining of students and staff. Please note that information is only uploaded as we confirm cases, conducted contact tracing protocols, and communicated to all families.

As a reminder, you can continue to find additional information on COVID-19 symptoms, please see: cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/symptoms-testing/symptoms.html. Staff and students exhibiting any of the above symptoms, or feeling ill, should call their medical provider to report their symptoms and ask about testing prior to seeking in-person care at a clinic, physician’s office, or hospital.

On another note, we have been back at school for one full week with our [kindergarten to sixth grade students] in full and our [seventh to twelfth grade students] in Hybrid. A survey will be going out next week to families in grades seven to 12 regarding the grab-and-go lunch associated with the return in full schedule.

Be safe and stay well.

Dr Lorrie Rodrigue, Superintendent