Virus temporarily closes Immaculate High School
DANBURY — Immaculate High School students are learning from home until Oct. 13 after two students tested positive for the coronavirus in a oneweek period.
One student in each cohort caught the virus outside of school, said Mary Maloney, the Catholic school’s president. Danbury’s health department recommended the school temporarily close, she said.
“We’ve done all that we can internally and we’re just cooperating with DPH (Danbury Department of Health), who is recommending we take this action,” Maloney said.
Students turned to virtual learning on Tuesday
Immaculate is the third school in the Danbury area to have cases. New Milford Public Schools closed for two days after someone tested positive during the first week of school. Newtown Public Schools also had a positive case less than a week into the year, but did not switch to distance learning.
and will stay at home until Thursday, Oct. 8. School was already closed that Friday for a teacher’s retreat and Monday, Oct. 12 for Columbus Day. Sports resume Friday, Oct. 9.
Immaculate is the third school in the Danbury area to have cases. New Milford Public Schools closed for two days after someone tested positive during the first week of school. Newtown Public Schools also had a positive case less than a week into the year, but did not switch to distance learning.
Maloney said the school is reviewing its protocols and expects to break lunch into three waves instead of two in order to decrease the number of students in the area at one time. The dining hall can fit 100 students using social distancing guidelines, according to the schools reopening plan.
“Parents have been very good at cooperating and so have the students in the building,” she said.
In a message to families on Monday, the school nurse said a member of the community tested positive and was instructed to remain home in self-isolation for 10 days. He or she had not been in the building since Wednesday, Sept. 23 and was given additional instructions to follow prior to returning to school. Family members were also told to self-quarantine and get tested, the letter said.
School or local health officials have or will be reaching out to those who are considered to have been in close contact with the person who tested positive, the school nurse said.
Immaculate is on a hybrid model, where half the students go to school on Mondays and Tuesdays and the other half is on virtual learning. All students are virtual on Wednesdays, with the groups switching on Thursdays and Fridays. Students are split up by the alphabet.
About 65 of the 408 students opted to stay on remote learning permanently, Maloney said.
Before the coronavirus pandemic, the school was accustomed to virtual learning on snow days. The school adopted a synchronous remote learning platform where students participated in daily 55-minute course instruction and had to meet the same academic course standards, Maloney said.
“As far as our infrastructure, we were ready for it,” she said. “The teachers had the platforms.
They were trained on how to use virtual instruction.”
The school has trained teachers further and switched to the Microsoft Teams software, which allows students to be broken into groups, she said. In some cases, students at home work with students in the classroom.
“They’re using some new ideas and new technology and software,” Maloney said. “It’s been better.”
Standard letter grading and assessment policies have continued, she said.
“If there is a need to return to a synchronous virtual learning platform, Immaculate is fully prepared to continue without interruption in order to maintain the high expectations and opportunities for our students during this unprecedented time,” Maloney said.