Local News

Hillsboro Schools to Test Employees Post-Thanksgiving

Mon, 23 Nov 2020 17:11:27 CST
The following is a letter from Hillsboro Schools Superintendent David Powell. "First of all, I want to thank each and every student and family for all you are doing under these difficult circumstances to keep our school year running as well as it has. I am so very proud of our students, teachers, and support staff. I hope you all have a peaceful, safe, and fun Thanksgiving break. As one additional precautionary step to keep our students and staff safe in light of the increasing number of COVID cases in our area and the serious concern about potential outbreaks resulting from what may transpire over the Thanksgiving holiday, I have arranged for ALL school district employees to have the opportunity to be tested using a “rapid” test on Monday, November 30. The student break will be extended by one day. So, instead of returning on Monday as planned, students will return on Tuesday, December 1. Montgomery County Health Department personnel will be on site Monday, November 30 to provide COVID testing to all employees (except those with qualifying exceptions). In this way, we can be as sure as possible (although still not 100%) that we won’t have any COVID-positive staff members present when students return on Tuesday. We will continue to provide 5 days per week in-person instruction as long as possible. The two situations that might trigger a move to all-remote would be local public health officials and local physicians recommending full-remote due to the number of COVID cases in the community, or our inability to fully staff one or more of our schools due to the number of staff that are COVID-positive or under quarantine. PLEASE take masking and social distancing steps to reduce your risk of contracting COVID and/or infecting others. Together we CAN work our way through this difficult time. Sincerely, David E. Powell"