Public Information and Announcements

On January 5th The Maine Department of Education released a news brief supporting the effectiveness and efficacy of masks as a mitigation strategy for spread of the COVID-19 virus. That information can be found at the following link: https://bit.ly/3fK72GA 

I hope this letter finds everyone enjoying their Sunday on the heels of a good holiday break with family and friends. Today, a day before students and staff return to school, is always a day with mixed emotions. Many of us have set our New Year's resolutions and have already begun the process of making them come true. (I made it through 2021 caffeine free!) Our teachers and instructional staff are getting their plans ready for the week ahead, while students are making the most of their last day of break (some likely cramming to get their homework done…). With the return to school tomorrow, I would like to share some positive news regarding changes to the state’s SOP for schools. This new document, which includes changes to the quarantine rules as a result of the federal CDC’s new understandings of the science, is exactly the gift schools needed heading into the new year.

Good evening, am writing to you this evening to share that the district was informed of 8 additional cases of Covid-19 today. These cases impacted students and/or staff at Canaan Elementary School (1 case), Bloomfield Elementary School (2 cases), North Elementary School (1 case), Mill Stream Elementary School (1 case), Skowhegan Area High School (1 case), and Skowhegan Area Middle School (2 cases).

I’m writing to make you aware that as of this evening, the district has reached 315 cases of Covid-19. This is a staggering mark considering the district had 60 cases all of last year. Further frustrating is the fact that the district has had 126 cases since Thanksgiving, representing more than double the cases we had last year. 

Yesterday Superintendents from around the state were notified by the Maine Information and Analysis Center that there had been a national investigation regarding a Tic Tok messaging campaign that stated that there will be a shooting in a US school this Friday, December 17th and that the threat had been determined to be NON-Credible. Either a person or group is supposedly promoting violence at school through TicTok. It is not uncommon for districts to receive warnings like this, and we always consult with local Law Enforcement. Again, the threats have been deemed to be non-credible at the national, state and local level.

Cases of Covid-19 continue to be on the rise in our area, with MSAD 54 identifying 20 cases today and yesterday. Unfortunately, the impact to our families and our staff, have been missed class time for kids who are close contacts and not vaccinated or in pooled testing. Although staff have put in admirable effort to support students, there is no true replacement for lost instructional time. 

Covid-19 Cases from Monday and Tuesday:

As indicated there were 20 positive cases of Covid-19 in the district over the last two days. The cases were as follows: NEL – 1, SCTC – 1, BES – 2, CES – 2, MCSS – 3, SAMS – 3, SAHS, 3, MSES – 5. As a result of these 20 new cases of Covid-19, 90 students have been required to quarantine from school.

I am writing to you this evening to share that the district was informed of 12 additional cases of Covid-19 today. These cases impacted students and/or staff at Canaan Elementary School (3 cases), Bloomfield Elementary School (2 cases), Margaret Chase Smith School (1 case), North Elementary School (2 cases), Skowhegan Area High School (3 cases), and Skowhegan Area Middle School (1 case).

This week has proven to be one of the biggest in the number of new cases of COVID-19 since the beginning of the pandemic with 48 new cases and 212 individuals quarantined. This school year's total number of cases to date is 272, which is nearly 4.5 times the total for the entire 2020-2021 school year. These cases have resulted in having to quarantine 1,194 individuals so far this year. Although we continue to see little spread of the virus in our schools, the spread in our community is having a big impact on our students' ability to come to school and learn. This also has an impact on family members and their ability to work. We continue to strongly encourage families to take advantage of vaccination or pooled testing as a way to keep their child in school more safely.