As schools resume instruction this week for a second year under the veil of the coronavirus pandemic, the Kennebec Journal contacted Augusta-area districts to gather information about the number of positive COVID-19 cases each had last year.

Five of the six school districts contacted provided information about positive cases for the 2020-2021 school year. Only Regional School Unit 2 did not have records on how many positive COVID-19 cases the district had.

According to the Maine Department of Education, it is not required for schools to track its COVID-19 data, but most school districts did, anyway. Regional School Unit 38, for an example, tracked the amount of close contacts from the past year.

RSU 2 Superintendent Tonya Arnold said the district, which serves the city of Hallowell and towns of Richmond, Farmingdale, Monmouth and Dresden, did not have a “consolidated document regarding the number of cases.”

“You are welcome to review the live feed and news announcements on our RSU 2 website to figure out on your own data  COVID-19 cases,” Arnold wrote in an email response to the Kennebec Journal, adding the district “did not have time to create special reports.”

In the “live feed” Arnold referenced, however, the total number of positive cases for last school year could not be completely determined. While many posts on the feed did cite a specific number of cases, there were some where it was unclear if a case count was related to a previous post. There were also posts where it was noted there were a handful of cases, but an exact number was not given.

For example, from a post believed to have been made just after winter break, the following was written:

“CONTACT TRACING in RSU 2, but no change in schedule. Over break there were a hand full of staff spread across the RSU who need to quarantine and a small group of students from Monmouth,” the post stated. “None of those individuals who need to quarantine attended school yesterday. Therefore, there is no impact on schedule for the rest of the staff and students in the district.”

Another from the same time period stated:

“CONTACT TRACING at HDMHS, but no change in schedule. Over break there was a small group of students who need to quarantine. None of those individuals attended school this week,” the post stated. “Therefore, there is no impact on schedule for the rest of the school or district.”

Based on limited public information from the RSU 2 website, it is estimated the district had 70 positive COVID-19 cases.

Arnold said she and the school district complied with the Kennebec Journal’s request for the public information since the district’s website has “information on positive cases” where the Kennebec Journal can “review and consolidate it into one summary document.” She said since the district did not create, or keep track of the COVID-19 cases within the district, she is “complying” with the request for public information.

In Augusta, Assistant Superintendent Katy Grondin said, there were 122 cases among students and staff last year.

RSU 38, which serves Readfield, Manchester, Wayne and Mount Vernon, had 91 positive COVID-19 cases last year. Superintendent Jay Charette broke it down further and said students had 86 of the positive cases, while staff accounted for five of the cases.

Winthrop Public Schools had 34 positive staff and student COVID-19 cases during the 2020-2021 school year, according to Administrative Assistant Coleen Souza.

Regional School Unit 12, which includes Westport Island, Alna, Somerville, Windsor, Whitefield, Chelsea and Palermo, had 31 positive COVID-19 cases among staff and students.

Maine School Administrative District 11, which serves Gardiner, West Gardiner, Randolph and Pittston, measured cases differently than other districts. The district reports there were six student and 10 staff COVID-19 cases linked to school and 83 students and 15 staff member COVID-19 cases not linked to the school. MSAD 11 Superintendent Patricia Hopkins said the district tracked close contacts in and out of school. As for close contacts linked to MSAD 11, 687 students, 148 staff and 88 athletes were considered close contact. For close contacts not linked to MSAD 11, 257 students and 29 staff were close contacts.

The Kennebec Journal also asked for information about how many teachers were vaccinated from all of the school districts, but no superintendent had that information. That will not be available until after the first 10 days of school, when the Maine Department of Education and Maine Department of Health and Human Services will survey the data to create a dashboard. The health agencies have already complied similar data for student vaccination rates within school districts and released the dashboard publicly a couple of weeks ago.

Kennebec County currently has a “high” transmission rate.

All six school districts have a mask mandate, which mixed with social distancing of 3 feet when possible, will help students avoid 10 days of quarantining, as long as they aren’t showing symptoms. The exemption is only within the classroom, not if the virus is contracted from community activities or from riding the bus. Masks are not required outside, but are federally required on the bus.

Copy the Story Link

« Previous

Handful of COVID-19 cases disrupt start of Carrabec school year

Next »

Fairfield-area schools to receive $6.3 million in federal pandemic relief aid