Student’s virus prompts round of quarantines

A student in a special education class at Manor Elementary School in Fairfax tested positive for the coronavirus earlier this month, county and district officials confirmed.

“It was not a Ross Valley program, and no Ross Valley School District programs were operating on any of our school sites at the time, as we are still in distance learning mode,” said Anne Capron, president of the board of trustees. “RVSD absolutely did notify all of our employees who work on the Manor campus.”

Ken Lippi, assistant superintendent of Marin County Office of Education, said the student has been quarantined for 14 days, as have the other students in the class and any staff associated with the class.

“The transmission did not take place at school, but we have provided public health with any relevant information that would assist the process” of contact tracing, Lippi said.

According to Lippi, parents and families of students in the class received phone calls and written notice of the incident.

“In addition, school staff have been notified by the school leadership, even though the classes at Manor school are not on site at this time,” Lippi said.

Dr. Matt Willis, Marin County public health officer, said the county and school officials worked closely with his staff to identify thosewho might have been exposed.

As with every school in Marin, Manor has at least one staff liaison assigned to work with public health officials, as well as a staff team that has worked to establish a school-site-specific safety plan.

“There’s a decision made in each case,” Willis said. “It depends on the risk.”

“In general, in a case of a student who tests positive, everyone else in the cohort and the staff associated with the cohort are quarantined,” Willis said. “In this case, school was not in session, so this was a specific special education cohort within the Marin County Office of Education.”

After the 14 days and coronavirus retesting are completed, the class members and staff are expected to return to school.

Superintendent Marci Trahan said the district’s TK- 6 grades are expected to open for in- classroom learning in a hybrid model starting Oct. 19. Prior to that, there will be some on- site orientations to familiarize students and their families with the new campus safety protocols.

“We are prioritizing student, staff and family health and safety,” she said. “We are confident that our planning demonstrates our commitment to safely, sensibly and responsibly open our schools.”

Aswith all schools in Marin, a team of staff members are