Posted on: Thursday, December 3, 2020

By DAN TOMASELLO

LYNNFIELD —The town’s schools will be remote for the rest of this week after seven people in the district tested positive for COVID-19 in a five-day period.

Superintendent Kristen Vogel made the announcement on Wednesday, Dec. 2, which occurred 24 hours after Lynnfield Middle School was forced to go remote for the rest of the week after three individuals tested positive for the novel coronavirus. In addition to the three cases at LMS, there are four other individuals who tested positive for COVID-19. There are currently 123 active cases throughout Lynnfield.

Vogel said the LMS cases are considered a cluster, which will result in the Massachusetts Department of Public Health sending a Mobile Response Testing Unit to the middle school on Monday. She noted that LMS will be the first school in the commonwealth that will be using the testing unit.

“Since March of 2020, all of the planning for the school system in response to this pandemic has been based on a shared community commitment to promote the health and well-being of everyone,” said Vogel during an emergency School Committee on Wednesday night. “What worries me as the leader of the school district is that the community is not adhering to the commitments we made to keep everyone safe and healthy. As a result, keeping our students and staff safe requires us to close the schools for the rest of this week. The health and safety of our students and staff is our number one priority.”

Vogel said school officials are also investigating a Lynnfield High School party that took place over Thanksgiving weekend.

“We know there is a positive individual who was at that party,” said Vogel. “That makes it really difficult for us to ensure the safety of our students and staff when that type of behavior is happening.”

In addition to the middle school cases and the LHS party, Vogel said there were parents of elementary school students who told her and COVID-19 Liaison Toni Rebelo they were going to “ignore” the district’s quarantine rules and would be “sending their children to school” despite traveling over Thanksgiving break.

“We have put all of these policies and procedures in place to keep everyone safe, but when the community is not complying and not adhering to those expectations, we are forced to make decisions that have significant consequences for kids,” said Vogel. “It’s wrong and it’s unacceptable. We are going to continue being put in this position if this continues.”

Rebelo said elementary school children who traveled over Thanksgiving break came into school “without following our procedures or telling us they traveled.”

“We happened to find out from different ways, including students telling us,” said Rebelo. “That puts people in the building at risk. We have had people come back from traveling who tested negative when they left and have tested positive when they came back.”

Rebelo also said school officials identified 20 close contacts to two positive cases.

“I have notified those individuals and they have begun quarantining for that 14-day time period,” said Rebelo. “Within that group of close contacts, there are siblings at various schools. We are now playing a waiting game for all of the test results to come back. We should know more about that in the next couple of days.”

School Committee Chairman Jamie Hayman noted that the decision to have the schools go remote was made in consultation with the Emergency Management Team and the Board of Health. He inquired when will school officials know if LHS will need to stay remote longer than the rest of this week.

“I think we will have a better sense of what we need to do at the high school in the next day or two,” said Vogel.

School Committee Vice Chairman Rich Sjoberg asked if local officials have determined whether the virus was spread in the schools.

“We are concerned we have spread in the middle school,” said Rebelo.

In response to a question from Sjoberg, Vogel said the Massachusetts Department of Public Health made the decision to send the Mobile Response Testing Unit to LMS after she provided local data to them. She said identified fifth grade students and staff members will be tested on Monday.

“There will be specific information going out to our fifth grade families concerning how this will take place,” said Vogel. “This unit will not test everyone in the community, doesn’t test everyone in the school and does not test every staff member or every teacher. It is focused on a specific population of students and staff.”

Vogel said the parents of students who are identified for testing will be emailed a link so they can register their children.

“It will be optional,” said Vogel.

Hayman noted that Town Administrator Rob Dolan told him “the state doesn’t send this unit out if they don’t believe there is a cluster.”

Sjoberg urged families to follow both the state’s guidelines as well as the school system’s rules.

“Please pay attention and we will all get through this together,” said Sjoberg.

Hayman said the situation is incredibly frustrating for school officials.

“We are trying everything we can to get our kids back into school, which is where they need to be right now,” said Hayman. “We hear it loud and clear that this is not sustainable for kids, families and teachers. Whether you agree with the protocols or the response to the virus, this is the world that we live in and this is the consequence for not following the rules. We don’t make the rules, the virus does. We are hoping to get back to in-person learning in the hybrid system on Monday. For the middle school, it will probably be Tuesday because of the mobile testing. That gives us the best shot of finishing out this calendar year.”

Hayman pleaded with the community to get the number of COVID-19 cases down so more in-person learning can take place in the new year.

“If we are doing the right things, it will increase the likelihood that we can back to in-person learning and increase in-person learning,” said Hayman.

Vogel thanked Rebelo for “the amount of work she is putting in for this district.”

“Toni has been extraordinary in trying to keep everyone safe and healthy,” said Vogel. “We couldn’t do it without her.”