New Fairfield staff, students return to school buildings; snow day Thursday

NEW FAIRFIELD — Despite a high school community member recently testing positive for the novel coronavirus, students and staff returned to school buildings Wednesday.

In a letter to parents and staff posted on the school district’s Facebook page Tuesday evening, Superintendent Pat Cosentino announced that Wednesday would be an in-person learning day — two days after a member of the New Fairfield High School community tested positive for COVID-19.

Assistant Superintendent Julie Luby said the individual hadn’t been in school since early last week — and with nearly one-third of students currently on remote learning, “only a few people that had close contact” with them.

“Because our numbers are so low, it only required the quarantining of one teacher and one student,” she said Wednesday morning. “A lot of people have chosen to do remote learning until after Christmas, so the number of students in the high school classes are small enough that the kids can be very spread out.”

Luby did not say how the high school community member contracted the virus, but she did say they did not get it in school.

The school district announced late Wednesday morning that a member of the Consolidated School community had tested positive for COVID-19, but did not indicate a change in school scheduling for the day.

Pre-winter break schedule

Cosentino’s Tuesday evening letter to parents and staff laid out the district’s schedule for the last school days before winter break, which takes into consideration the snowstorm forecast for Wednesday into Thursday.

“Given the uncertainty of the impending storm, and the request of many students who LOVE snow days, we will be closed for a true ‘snow day’ on Thursday … with no remote learning,” Cosentino wrote.

In anticipation of post-storm cleanup efforts, Friday will be a remote learning day — as will Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of next week.

“In consideration of the significant community spread of COVID-19 and the fact that we will have been physically apart from this Wednesday midday through Sunday, we feel that it is wise to make Monday and Tuesday remote learning days as well,” Cosentinio said, nothing that next Wednesday “was already scheduled to be a remote learning day.”

All school buildings and offices will be open every day except Thursday, according to her letter.