November 20, 2020

AB Families and Extended Community,

Since our return to school in September, we have carefully monitored cases of COVID-19 within our
schools as well as the public health data for Acton and Boxborough. We believe deeply in the need for
our students to learn in person to the fullest extent possible. However, since Halloween, I am
increasingly concerned about a sharp rise in cases of COVID-19 within our school population that may
put in-person learning in jeopardy. In September and October, we had a total of 9 positive cases across
our school population. From November 1 through November 19, we had 24 positive cases. Today, we
learned of two additional positive test results. If these individuals do indeed test positive as expected,
that will bring our November total to 26 cases and a total of 36 cases overall since the opening of school.

In the last two days, our high school has had four positive cases and we are awaiting additional test
results. We are also extremely concerned about one of our cases because there may be incidences of
school-based transmission of the virus. Should these two cases indeed convert to positive, we will follow
protocols specific to suspected school based transmission. The sharp rise in cases at this school is
substantially hindering our ability to provide consistent access to a quality education for all students.
There are currently 60 students required to quarantine as close contacts and 20 staff absences, including
those unrelated to positive student cases today alone.

Due to concerns about the overall rise in cases at the high school and about the possibility of school-
based transmission, but more importantly negative impact this has had on the number of students
whose education has been interrupted and our inability to staff the school at a safe and appropriate
level, we will transition to remote learning at the high school from Monday November 23 through Friday
December 4.

We will continue to carefully monitor cases during the first week of December, and if we experience a
reduction in positive cases and individuals designated as close contacts during the week after
Thanksgiving, we will return to in-person hybrid learning at ABRHS on Monday, December 7. However,
if we do not see a reduction, we may need to extend the period of remote learning.

During this period of remote learning, the high school will shift to its fully remote schedule that provides
for daily synchronous instruction for all students across each of their content areas. The high school has
developed this schedule so that students, even when working remotely, gain from the consistency of
having daily, synchronous meeting times in their classes.

While I am currently most concerned about transmission at our high school, I also remain greatly
concerned about the overall pattern of increasing positive case numbers in our schools and community.
While speaking with our public health officials and school physician, they noted that while our
community shows an overall transmission rate similar to surrounding communities, the number of
positive cases coming into our schools is strikingly high in comparison. In addition, they noted that
many of the cases we are seeing are from small and even very small gatherings at homes where only
one or two additional people outside of a household are present. I think it is particularly important to
know that the overall rise in cases in our schools and community are not the result of wild and reckless
behaviors, but instead the result of everyday interactions where individuals have taken COVID
precautions for granted.

What we know about virus spread within our community has significant implications for how we all
celebrate Thanksgiving. If we attend gatherings with people outside of our immediate
household/family, it is likely cases will rise. If cases rise, we anticipate that we will need to close
additional schools or even the entire district for a period of time as we are already in a tenuous position.

It is critically important that our schools remain open for our students. However, we can only keep
students learning in person if it is safe and we see a reduction in the number of positive cases entering
our schools. Achieving this goal will require behavioral modifications from all of us. The overall
transmission rate of the virus in our state is almost equal to what we saw at the height of the outbreak
last March and April. We need to ask ourselves, “Am I still following all of the precautions I employed
last spring?” At that time, we watched virus numbers decline when we collectively followed
recommended precautions. We can reduce the spread of the virus now and keep our schools open, but
we cannot do it with our expectations for student and staff behavior in our schools alone.

Each of us needs to take steps to control COVID infections and spread by wearing a mask and
maintaining 6’ or more of distance from individuals outside of our immediate family households,
washing our hands regularly, and limiting contact with people outside of our homes. As we continue in
the midst of a global health crisis, we are required to make significant sacrifices, despite what experts
call ‘pandemic fatigue. We will only be successful if each and every member of our community does
their part. Please be sure to review updated guidance from the CDC and the Massachusetts Department
of Public Health about Thanksgiving gatherings.

We have heard many messages this week about the growing concern around Thanksgiving gatherings.
This is not the Thanksgiving message I had hoped to send, but it is imperative that each one of us does
our part to keep our gatherings limited to those in our immediate household or immediate family.

If you gather with friends or family outside of your immediate household or immediate family,
regardless of where the gathering takes place, we are asking you to consider the impact of the gathering
on the overall safety of our schools. If you conclude that you are exposing yourself to increased risk of
bringing the virus back into our schools, please follow our out-of-state travel procedures:

Self-quarantine after the gathering (or returning to your home, whichever is later)

Obtain a PCR test 72 hours into the self-quarantine

Staff should provide District Human Resources proof of a negative PCR test before returning to school

Students should provide the school nurse proof of a negative PCR test before returning to school
While we do not have the means to police this request and know that asking families to attest to this
would only lead to dishonesty, we hope that knowing the importance of this measure as a primary
strategy to keep schools open will result in strong adherence to this request within our community.

It is incredibly important to me, our leadership team, and all of our educators that we can continue to
keep our schools open. We are all hopeful that our community members will make good choices over
the next week that will allow us to continue to offer our students in-person learning and eventually
open our schools more fully.

I hope you and your (immediate) family have a restful and relaxing Thanksgiving break.

Sincerely,

Peter Light

Superintendent of Schools