Lowell COVID-19 Communication

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Dear Lowell parents, caregivers, and guardians,

I am writing to inform you that a member of our Lowell school community has tested positive for COVID-19. Please note that there is no known transmission within the Lowell School Community at this time. This is known due to the effective contact tracing that we are able to do both within our schools and through the Watertown Department of Health.

Parents of all students who were in close contact with the community member have already been notified privately. Unless you were contacted, your child was NOT a close contact of the affected school member (defined as being within 6 feet of the person for at least a cumulative 15 minutes or any member in the classroom where the individual who tested positive was located). Please continue to monitor your child for symptoms, as you do every day, and keep your child home if they show any symptoms or they are not feeling well.

Our student body and staff have been closely adhering to the safety protocols including mask-wearing, hand washing, pooled testing, and physical distancing. We are grateful to our families for their continued efforts to keep students home at the first sign of symptoms. These measures, taken in combination, greatly reduce the risk of additional transmission.

PLEASE NOTE the following change to our quarantine protocol: All close contacts should be tested but must self-quarantine for 10 days (returning on the 11th day) after the last exposure to the person who tested positive, regardless of the test result. We have made this change in consultation with the Watertown Health Department. With our mandatory testing, we are confident that the reduction in quarantine time will not impact the safety of our schools.

To further prevent transmission of the virus to other staff and students, we have sanitized the school with a focus on those areas frequented by the community member that tested positive. We will continue to be vigilant in adhering to all of the protocols that have been put in place in an effort to continue in-person learning. We are also providing remote learning for all students required to quarantine at home to continue to provide instruction, structure, and an emotional connection to the classroom during a time that we know will be challenging for those children and families involved

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We are committed to continuous communication with and support for our families. If you have any additional questions or concerns, please contact Kathleen Desmarais at kathleen.desmarais@watertown.k12.ma.us or by phone at (617) 926-7760. Additionally, you can reach out to Stacy Phelan, the Lowell Elementary School Principal at stacy.phelan@watertown.k12.ma.us. If there is additional transmission as a result of this case or a separate case, we will send out another message immediately.

Thank you for your continued support.

Dr. Deanne Galdston, Superintendent of Schools