Coronavirus: Norton Schools To Close For 2 Weeks

NORTON, MA — Norton Public Schools will be closed for two weeks starting on Monday, with all extra curricular activities canceled during that time, amid the coronavirus pandemic. Norton Superintendent of Schools Joseph F. Baeta said in a letter to the school community Friday that that the move is precautionary and that no known cases of coronavirus have been diagnosed in Norton.

"I want to begin this email to express my thanks for your patience while we continue to work through what is becoming a rapidly changing health and safety situation," Baeta said.

Baeta said school days will be made up using remaining snow days with the last day of school now June 19.

"We understand that our lives have been inundated with information regarding this virus over the last several weeks," Baeta wrote. "As a district, we have been working to be proactive in our response to the ever-changing climate and recommendations."

Norton Public Schools posted that that following steps will be taken:

• Students in K-2 will be provided with activity packets that support our learning standards and can be used as enrichment options to continue learning outside of the classroom
• Students in Grades 3-5 will be allowed to take their district sponsored chromebook home during this time. We ask that parents/guardians of students in Grades 3-5 please take a few moments to complete the Chromebook Loan Agreement indicating that you have received the device and will take responsibility for it while it is at home. This is a digital version of the agreement used for our 1:1 program in grades 6-12.
• We have created a website NPS Learns that provides digital resources for students at all grade levels to explore while out of school.

Baeta said the activities are not mandatory, nor are they meant to replace actual in-class work, but the district wanted to provide resources for students and parents that wanted to continue to learn and stay engaged during the two-week break.

Norton Schools are working to reschedule activities such as MCAS, AP classes, prom and other special occasions. The school facility will not be available for rental during the next weeks with all events planned for there canceled.

The MIAA has delayed the start of spring sports seasonuntil March 30, at the earliest.

Baeeta said Norton Schools are "working with food services to develop essential services for students experiencing food scarcity and food insecurity to have access to food stations during this closure that will comply with social-isolation expectations, but still allow kids to eat."

LIST: All school and college closings across Massachusetts.

Several school districts are closing for anywhere from weeks to a month as officials scramble to curtail the spread of the new coronavirus. Everett Public Schools was the first to announce a prolonged break, saying Thursday afternoon it would cancel class for 30 days. Arlington, Bedford, Belmont, Burlington, Lexington and Winchester followed suit soon after, saying they were closing until March 27.

(More on the coronavirus can be found in this fact sheet from the CDC.)

Coronaviruses are a family of viruses that include the common cold as well as much more serious diseases. The strain that emerged in China in late 2019, now called COVID-19, is related to other that have caused serious outbreaks in recent years, including severe acute respiratory syndromes
(SARS) and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS). The first confirmed case of COVID-19 in the U.S. was on Jan. 21.

The disease, which apparently originated in animals, is now transferring from person to person, although the mechanism is not yet fully understood. Its symptoms include fever, coughing and shortness of breath, and many patients develop pneumonia. There is as yet no vaccine against COVID-19 it and no antiviral treatment.

According to the CDC, the best way of preventing the disease is to avoid close contact with people who are sick, to avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth with unwashed hands, to wash you hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, and to use a hand sanitizer that contains at least 60% alcohol if soap and water are not available. To avoid spreading any respiratory illness, the CDC recommends staying at home when you are sick, covering your cough or sneeze with a tissue and throwing the tissue in the trash, cleaning and disinfecting frequently touched objects and surfaces.

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