100-Plus Students, Entire Grade Quarantining In Greenwich Schools

GREENWICH, CT — More than 100 students across four schools in Greenwich have been asked to quarantine after some students tested positive for the coronavirus, according to district officials.

On Monday, district spokesperson Jonathan Supranowitz confirmed 25 students and two staff members at Eastern Middle School, 25 students and one faculty member at Greenwich High School, the entire third grade at the International School at Dundee and 24 students at Western Middle School were all recently asked to quarantine.

Letters were sent to some families over the weekend notifying them of positive cases of the virus, each of which were the result of exposure outside of school, according to Supranowitz.

"The main reason that most students are being quarantined is due to exposures during activities outside of school," Supranowitz said. "As of this moment, we do not have a single case that we believe originated from inside our schools."

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In a letter sent to the "Grade 6 Green Cohort" at Eastern Middle School, Principal Jason Goldstein and Jessica Wieneke, a school nurse, said they were informed Friday morning a student in the cohort had tested positive for the virus.

The student had not been in school since Nov. 2 and has been at home quarantining as a precautionary measure as a result of an exposure, the letter reads.

As a result of contact tracing, two staff members and 25 students at the school were asked to quarantine for two weeks from Monday.

That same day, a letter was sent to families at Greenwich High School indicating three students in the school's Greenwich cohort had tested positive for the virus. The letter was sent by Superintendent Toni Jones and Mary Keller, the district's head of nursing.

All three students were last on school grounds between Oct. 26 and 27. Aside from the three students, the letter indicated "no additional quarantining" was deemed necessary by the district.

On Sunday, another letter was sent by Jones and Keller to Greenwich High School families indicating a student in the school's Cardinals cohort, who was last in school Oct. 30, had tested positive for the virus.

"As a result of thorough contact tracing," the letter reads, "it has been determined that 25 students and one faculty member will be in quarantine for the required 14 days at the time of exposure."

In addition to the letters, Supranowitz confirmed the entire third grade at the International School at Dundee were recently asked to quarantine. The grade consists of three classes of 18 students, or 54 in total.

A cohort of 24 students at Western Middle School were also recently asked to quarantine, Supranowitz said.

"We are finding that many students are being exposed to positive cases from non-school sponsored sports," Supranowitz said. "We are reminding our families to contact their school nurse or principal immediately if they have been contacted by a sports organization or any individual that their child has potentially been exposed. If that is the case, then we are requiring students who may be notified of a possible exposure by their sport teams to quarantine for 14 days."

Supranowitz did not immediately answer when asked if the students at ISD and Western were asked to quarantine after students at the schools tested positive for the virus.

According to the Greenwich Time, a teacher at ISD, who was last in school Friday, had tested positive for the virus and an eighth-grader at Western, who was last in school Friday, had also tested positive.

Board of Education chair Peter Bernstein said he and his fellow board members have noticed the number of students in Greenwich being asked to quarantine increase over the past month.

"We have certainly been watching the trends moving in the wrong direction as there has been an uptick in new cases," Bernstein said. "It serves as a stark reminder that we need to remain vigilant as a community and ensure that our students observe proper social distancing and mask wearing, whether at school or during non-school activities. Quarantines are just another essential tool to further prevent spreading of the virus

Patch has reached out to the town health department for further information.