Oakland-based Regional School Unit 18 announced Tuesday evening that an individual associated with James H. Bean Elementary School in Sidney had tested positive for COVID-19.

In a letter to parents and students at the school, RSU 18 Superintendent Carl Gartley wrote the person who tested positive was last at the school on Friday, Jan. 8.

“Even though the person was last in school four days ago, contact tracing did reveal students and staff who have been identified as close contacts,” Gartley wrote. “All people involved (or their parents) have been notified.”

James H. Bean Elementary School will remain open. RSU 18 serves about 2,500 students from Belgrade, China, Oakland, Rome and Sidney, with 237 of those students enrolled at the Bean school.

To date, RSU 18 has had 10 positive COVID-19 cases associated with the district.

One day after outbreak status was declared at Regional School Unit 3’s Mount View complex in Thorndike, the district released information on an individual associated with Mount View High School who tested positive.

RSU 3 Superintendent Charles Brown wrote in a letter to the community Wednesday morning that there was a possibility other students and staff came into contact with the individual who tested positive, all of whom have been notified.

“Maine CDC or a school representative will contact you directly if you are identified as a close contact of someone who tested positive,” Brown wrote. “Close contacts will be asked to quarantine for 10 days from last exposure to the positive individual. A negative test result does not get an individual out of quarantine.”

This was the district’s ninth case of the year. RSU 3 has eight schools serving students from the towns of Brooks, Freedom, Jackson, Knox, Liberty, Monroe, Montville, Thorndike, Troy, Unity and Waldo.

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