PROVIDENCE – Local schools are now either canceling classes or recommending closing buildings in the wake of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Attleboro Public Schools announced Friday that there will be no school from March 16-20 after it learned a student at one of the schools was placed in self-quarantine and is being tested for the virus – those results are expected early next week, the district said.
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The unnamed student has not been in school since Tuesday, the district said, and there is “no threat” of contagion as all the schools have been cleaned throughout the week. The district also said the decision to close school for a week was a measure to halt “person-to-person spread” of the coronavirus as part of the city’s efforts limit such spread in Attleboro. The district also did not identify the school in which the student attends.
The district will also assess conditions and decide next week whether or not to extend the cancelation beyond March 20 and the lost days, per commonwealth regulations, will made up at the end of the year through June 23.
“We fully understand the disruption this causes to everyone’s normal routines, but ask for everyone’s patience as we navigate the quickly evolving circumstances of this global crisis,” the district said.
In Rhode Island, International Charter School Director Julie Nora is recommending closing the school starting Monday for two weeks due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Nora wrote a letter Thursday to the families of the students at the 380-student, dual-language charter school, based in Pawtucket, informing them of her recommendation, which will be discussed at an emergency meeting with the school’s board of trustees Friday evening at 6:15 p.m.
International Charter School will transition its curricula to “virtual learning” starting Monday, Nora said, and the school has already started making a plan to transition some classes to “an online environment.” On Thursday, R.I. Education Commissioner Angelica Infante-Green asked all school districts to submit closure plans by March 19 in case schools are shut down for extended periods and several local colleges have altered their curricula to online in response to the outbreak.
As of now, Nora said, the school does not know of any International Charter School students, staff or family members “who have contracted or been in direct contact” with anyone with coronavirus. She said she “strongly” believes that having 400 people from across Rhode Island in the school building each day “is not what we should be doing at this time,” further noting some members of the school community have “compromised immune systems.”
“This has not been an easy decision,” Nora said in the letter. “I realize it will likely cause inconvenience for many families, but I am deeply concerned about the health and safety of both the ICS community and the many cities and towns we serve in Rhode Island. We need to act responsibly about the vulnerability of the people we know, as well as what we can do to safeguard our broader community.”
Students will still access free meals while the building is closed between 8:15 a.m. and 12:15 p.m., Nora said.
Nora was not immediately available for additional comment Friday.
(Updated to include closure announcement in Attleboro.)
James Bessette is the PBN special projects editor, and also covers the nonprofit and education sectors. You may reach him at Bessette@PBN.com. You may also follow him on Twitter at @James_Bessette.
