Coronavirus Guilford: Public Schools Closing 'Indefinitely'

GUILFORD, CT — Guilford Public Schools will be closed indefinitely beginning at 5 p.m. Friday as a precaution against coronavirus.

"On the advice of our health officials and in collaboration with all schools in southeastern Connecticut we have decided to close schools to help stop the spread of COVID-19," local officials said.

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Here is the announcement by Guilford Public Schools Superintendent Paul Freeman about the decision to close over coronavirus concerns

Dear Guilford Public Schools Community:

I am writing to inform you that the Guilford Public Schools will close today, Friday, March13, 2020 at 5:00 PM until further notice. On the advice of our local health departments, the school superintendents in southeastern Connecticut have come together to make a decision to put the health of our community (both our school community and the community at large) at the center of our decision to close schools.

We have been advised that the implementation of social distancing measures is a proven science-based intervention that has been shown to reduce the morbidity and mortality associated with communicable disease outbreaks. In the past, communities in which schools closed were able to positively impact and reduce the spread of disease. We felt compelled to make this decision to prevent the spread of illness among our students, staff, and our communities.

As we cannot be sure that this illness will run its course in two weeks, we have decided to identify this closure as “indefinite.” This decision was made in consultation with and with the support of the health departments, elected officials and emergency management professionals.

Additionally in Guilford, we learned last evening that an individual who was in Baldwin Middle School on Thursday, March 12th, was exposed to a person now confirmed positive for Coronavirus infection. The infected individual is not a resident of the Guilford community.

While it is important to note that the exposed individual is not symptomatic, we are asking parents and guardians of Baldwin students to monitor their child’s health over the next 14 days until March 26, 2020, as a precaution.

Today and this weekend, Baldwin will be thoroughly cleaned and disinfected, as will all of our school facilities during the closure. There has been much discussion about distance learning during prolonged absences.

At this time the Connecticut State Department of Education has discouraged districts from utilizing this approach for closures of two weeks or less due to concerns over instructional
consistency (especially in the early grades), equity of access both intra-district and inter-district, disruption of special education services, and multiple employee contractual issues.

We will provide supplemental learning materials on our website by Monday and will communicate to all students and families that materials will be available to support students and families through this closure up to March 27, 2020. These 10 days will require the scheduling of make-up days.

Today, our faculty are focusing their professional development time working on more comprehensive distance learning models that may be implemented should the closure last beyond two weeks. We will notify parents, students and staff of how this may be implemented if necessary.

Many are aware that the State of Connecticut has waived the 180-day requirement for school districts to be in session. No schools will be in session passed this date. We will communicate more details on our plans for scheduling make up days by early next week.

We will have our school offices staffed through next week to allow students to come in and retrieve any belongings they may want to have during the closure and for parents to pick up any needed medications from nurses’ offices.

We will continue to communicate as we receive updated guidance from our public health officials, the CDC, and state officials. Please continue to monitor your email to ensure receipt of the most current information.

Please visit our website at www.guilfordschools.org/corona... for current information about COVID-19 including preventative measures and resources for talking with your children.

Sincerely,
Paul Freeman, Ed.D.
Superintendent, Guilford Public Schools.