Natick High School is going remote-only for at least the next two weeks as the result of what school and town health officials described as COVID-19 quarantine violations by students outside of school. Natick has been on a hybrid schedule, with students alternating between in-school and remote learning every other week.
Natick Public Schools and the Board of Health issued a sternly worded memo to the school community on Monday night. It reads in part:
“Students who were required to quarantine due to exposure as close contacts to infected individuals while involved in activities outside of school and outside of Natick, attended and/or hosted parties with numerous students over the past two weekends despite orders from the Board of Health to quarantine. Because families and students have not been forthcoming about attendees, and numbers of reported students range from 20-50 students at this time, crossing both NHS cohorts (A/B), the Natick Board of Health and the Natick Public Schools are left no choice but to cease live lessons at this time for a two-week quarantine period.”
This would apply to special education teaching, and also will likely put at least a pause on athletics and in-person extracurricular activities, such as theatre and robotics, according to the letter, which we’ve embedded in full below.
“We will ask the school committee to require that all extra curricular clubs be held virtually, and that no athletic play or practices occur.”
Tuesday’s online School Committee meeting at 6pm promises to be compelling viewing.
[gview file=”https://www.natickreport.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/closure-of-Natick-HS-9_28_20.pdf”]
