Peirce Elementary Shifts To Remote Learning After Positive Test

ARLINGTON, MA — Just as students at Peirce Elementary were prepared to begin the school year on Monday, plans for an in-person return to the classroom were forced to be put on hold until next week after a staff member tested positive for the coronavirus last week.

The confirmed case was announced on Sunday by Superintendent Kathleen Bodie, who said that due to the staff member testing positive, the school will operate on a fully remote basis until Sept. 30. Free COVID-19 testing was held at the school last week and provided to staff members on a volunteer basis. The staff member learned of the positive case and alerted district officials.

The staff member, who is not being identified due to privacy laws, is in isolation while following guidelines set into place by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the district said. The staff member will be permitted to return to school after remaining isolated for 10 days.

In addition, six other staff members who district officials said were in contact with their colleague are also in self-quarantine for two weeks after receiving word of the confirmed case by local health officials. The earliest any of those staff members can return to school is Sept. 30, which led the district to announce that classes at Peirce would be held remotely until that date.

Staff members had been involved in training remotely and on a limited in-person basis for the past two weeks, Bodie said.

The district announced that no students have been in the building prior to the school year and are not believed to have come into contact with any other the affected staff members. The entire school was sanitized over the weekend, Bodie wrote in the release.

“From the start, our goal was to be proactive about reducing the risk of exposure. We prioritized providing testing and were able to do so thanks to a partnership with the Arlington Health Department,” Bodie said, according to the Arlington Advocate. “We’re relieved and grateful we identified this case prior to the start of school, although we know this change poses challenges for our Peirce Elementary families and staff. Ultimately this is what our district needs to do and we appreciate everyone’s cooperation and understanding.”

Bodie wrote that all other Arlington district schools will continue with their hybrid educational plans as scheduled. Arlington High School was already scheduled to operate on a fully remote basis until January. In the letter to the district community, Bodie said the decision to temporarily shift Peirce to remote learning until next week was not easy but was made with the safety of students in mind.

“Ultimately we must adapt to the situation we face due to COVID-19,” the superintendent wrote. “From the start, this virus has upended our normal routines and expectations.

“Fortunately, our community at Arlington Public Schools has proven to be resilient throughout this pandemic, patient as we have navigated these unchartered waters and cooperative as we have had to weather countless changes.”