Coronavirus: Bethel Middle School Goes Remote With Staff Shortage

BETHEL, CT — Bethel Middle School will go completely online through the Thanksgiving break, Superintendent Christine Carver wrote in a letter to families on Wednesday.

The move comes as a result of a staffing shortage following confirmation that members of the Bethel High School and Bethel Middle School community have tested positive for COVID-19, and the quarantines that accompany it.

"While the BMS exposure affected only a cohort, it has a significant impact on staffing, due to the nature of the exposure and other staff members that were already on quarantine," Carver said.

Both the BMS and BHS community members were last in school on Nov. 12. The superintendent said she was notified of the confirmed infections on Wednesday.

"We were able to reach all direct contacts at BHS to notify them to quarantine. We are in the process of contacting the direct contacts at BMS," Carver said.

Those determined to be "direct contacts" are defined as people who were within six feet of an infected person for at least 15 minutes over a 24-hour period, with or without a mask, starting from 48 hours before the person began feeling ill or 48 hours prior to a positive test of an asymptomatic person.

The schools will "continue to closely monitor the health conditions of our students and staff," Carver said.