Outbreak investigation opened at Skowhegan Area Middle School

SKOWHEGAN — Superintendent Jon Moody told the Maine School Administrative District 54 board of directors about an open outbreak investigation at Skowhegan Area Middle School.

Board members convened on Thursday to discuss district updates, including mascot imagery selection, the upcoming budget and COVID-19.

Moody said the coronavirus outbreak investigation had occurred Wednesday, and it is believed that transmission may have occurred in school. After discussions with Maine Center for Disease Control & Prevention, it was decided to keep the facility open.

On March 5, the district reported a case involving a staff member at the middle school; on Wednesday, two additional cases were reported, and another on Thursday.

“By this afternoon, all close contacts had been notified,” Moody said in a letter Wednesday. “In total, four staff and six students were asked to quarantine.”

Because the positive cases reported were from the same middle school team, an investigation was opened. Moody said Thursday that “it’s likely that there might have been transmission in school.”

In conversations with Maine CDC, administrators felt strongly that schools could be kept open.

“Quarantining is working exactly as it was intended,” Moody said. “Major kudos to Maine CDC. They’ve been phenomenal to work with.”

To date, there have been 31 positive cases of COVID-19 among students and staff; 18 positive cases outside, meaning the students were never in school while sick or contagious; and two cases among nonstudents at Somerset Career and Technical Center. The district keeps an updated record of these cases on its website.

MASCOT

The board voted Oct. 8 to adopt “River Hawks” as the district’s new mascot. The historic change came after a full year of deliberations and many years of contention after retiring the “Indians” nickname in March 2019 after receiving criticism that the name was racist and demeaning.

Skowhegan Area High School Principal Bruce Mochamer said at Thursday’s meeting that students in grades 6 through 12 and district staff have been issued a survey to vote on the style of the mascot. The survey will close Friday and Mochamer said at the meeting that there had already been 575 responses.

“We pushed out a questionnaire for students and staff this week and it will close (Friday) at 3 p.m.,” Mochamer said. “As of (Thursday) we had 575 responses. We pushed it out because we’re looking for the style of the mascot.”

Moody has previously said that students and staff are working in collaboration with the digital graphics program at Somerset Career and Technical Center and Bromar Painting, a local business that the district works with to print its newsletter.

“We are very fortunate to have such a positive and engaged community. It’s definitely been focused on the students,” Moody previously said.

BUDGET

Moody presented the board with the draft status quo budget on Thursday, which is set at $36,963,989.

This is up 0.812% from the previous year but does not represent any outstanding pieces that are not yet known, such as health insurance, workers compensation and negotiated salary increases, Moody said.

NEW SCHOOL

The district is getting closer to selecting a site for a new school.

North Elementary School, at 33 Jewett St., qualified for the state’s Major Capital School Construction program, ranking No. 2 out of 74 schools. Completed in 1954, the school originally served students in kindergarten through fourth grade. It now serves about 165 students in prekindergarten and kindergarten.

On Thursday, the board discussed updates, saying that after talks with Stephen Blatt Architects, the recommendation is to move forward with the site where the Margaret Chase Smith School currently sits. Though this is a recommendation, no firm decision has been made on the site.

The district has also explored other properties in town, including a site off U.S. Route 201, a site off Middle Road and property on the district’s campus near Skowhegan Area High School, which has been ruled out.

The only decision that has officially been made on the project is that North Elementary School’s current site is not an option for the district to consider due to the size of the property. If the Margaret Chase Smith School site were selected, the district is considering relocating the bus garage to where North Elementary School sits now.

Deficiencies at North Elementary are many. Privacy is lacking. Space is inadequate for students to rest in the principal’s office or the nurse’s office. Many windows are exposed to the public and shake from traffic going by and closing doors. The art classroom was created using a part of the gymnasium and has no ceiling, and it cannot be used at the same time that gym classes are held.

Exposed pipes are also a problem at the school. Some heaters in classrooms are unreliable and often overheat. The boys’ bathroom is not wheelchair accessible and there are only two bathrooms for a staff of about 41.

MSAD 54 serves the communities of Canaan, Cornville, Mercer, Norridgewock, Smithfield and Skowhegan.