The Wissahickon School District has announced that up to three students and one staff member have been or may have been exposed to someone who has tested presumed positive for Coronavirus. The district has decided to remain open and expand its cleaning efforts. County and state health officials do not recommend closing unless there is a presumed positive test result.

The full announcement:

Dear Parents/Guardians,

Today we received official notification that one staff member and one student at Wissahickon Middle School have been exposed to somebody who has tested presumed positive for Coronavirus COVID-19, and we have since unofficially learned of two additional people (one WHS student, one Lower Gwynedd student) who may have been similarly exposed.  Please note that there are NO people in our schools who have tested presumed positive for the virus.  Only exposed, and they are now being quarantined for 14 days per health authority recommendation.  While being “exposed” by no means automatically leads to testing positive, it can end up that way, so we are taking this news very seriously.

While some districts in the area are closing schools for a day (or more) to do “deep cleaning,” we are not doing that here because we are able to accomplish the same amount of extra, common-surface cleaning every night.  We are re-doubling such efforts, with extended hours, including more frequent (4x/day) cleaning of school vehicles as well.

Neither county nor state health officials are recommending closing schools when there are no confirmed positive cases.  Should one or more people in our schools test positive, these health officials may well have a different recommendation.  But for now, the extended cleaning and continued attention to common sense prevention protocols (frequent hand washing, staying home if feeling sick, etc.) are their recommendations.  Given the recent increase in reported exposures, health officials are now also recommending districts embark on an explicit commitment to “social distancing.”  This means the postponing/canceling of certain large-group activities that create more chances of exposure (field trips to public places, large audience events, etc.).  You will hear more about the status of our school-specific activities very soon, in the form of direct communication from your child’s school.

Future updates will be provided as soon as we have more information to share, and please know that I consider this topic a top priority and will continue to monitor every development very closely in order to keep our students and staff and families as safe as possible.

Dr. James Crisfield, Superintendent

We will provide updates as necessary.