November 23, 2020
Brunswick CSD Community,
Today the District was informed of three new positive cases of the COVID-19 virus involving students in first, second and fourth grade. The students were last in the building on November 19th and did not use District transportation. The District has been in contact with the Rensselaer County Department of Health, which takes the lead on determining contact tracing. Through the work with the Rensselaer Co DOH this afternoon, it has been determined that only one of the classes is requiring quarantine and contact tracing. All contacts to the positive case will be advised of the quarantine period by Mr. Pogue and his staff within the hour. We ask for your cooperation if you are contacted. If you were not contacted, there is no further action needed on your part. Please note that the decision to quarantine or contact trace is based on the last date of attendance, the date of the positive test and if/when the positive became symptomatic. Our cohorted model is the reason that Tamarac Elementary School did not have to go fully remote.
We ask that if you have a student that needs to quarantine, please respond to the daily contact tracing emails from our health office. We must keep vigilant with our protocols and always err on the side of caution when it comes to protecting our Tamarac students and staff.
While we understand that you would like additional details, we are not permitted by privacy laws to identify students or staff members involved. We have provided as much information as possible. Anyone with questions and/or who needs to report a COVID-19 related health issue should contact the District’s COVID-19 resource person via the dedicated email addresses COVIDhotline@brunswickcsd.org and COVIDreporting@brunswickcsd.org.
In the event that there are any further developments or if additional information regarding this matter becomes available, the school community will be informed as soon as possible. Thank you for your understanding and continued partnership in keeping our community as safe as possible.
We are entering a vulnerable time with the holidays, travel and college students returning home. Please help me keep COVID from spreading through our schools by following the guidance and keeping students that have been exposed or have symptoms home from classes. We are happy to help you make alternate arrangements for instruction for your students.
We must all work together to help stop the spread of COVID-19. We will get through this, together.
Stay healthy,
Dr. Angelina Maloney
Superintendent