Three Maine counties now designated 'yellow' in school reopening system - Press Herald

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Maine added two more counties on Friday to its list of places where it recommends schools offer hybrid instruction, as the state reported surging coronavirus case numbers.

The Department of Education designated Somerset and Washington counties “yellow” on Friday, meaning those counties have an elevated risk of COVID-19 spread and hybrid instruction is recommended as a way of limiting the number of people in schools and classrooms at any one time. Waldo County, which received a yellow designation last week, remains yellow while all other counties are green.

The changes come as Maine reported its highest single-day spike in coronavirus cases on Friday, with 103 new infections recorded around the state. In the last 30 days there have been 128 cases reported among students and staff in Maine schools. The largest outbreak at a school so far has been at the Community Regional Charter School in Skowhegan and Cornville, which has reported 18 cases, though school officials said last week that everyone affected has recovered.

In Somerset County, both the new cases per capita and the positivity rate have risen, according to a news release from the DOE. In Washington County, the site of the Second Baptist Church outbreak, the new two-week population-adjusted case rate is four times higher than it was last week.

Waldo County continues to have Maine’s highest per county positivity rate at 3 percent and a new case rate of 17.4 percent. No outbreaks have been identified in Waldo or Washington county schools at this time.

The state’s color advisory system, which is run by DOE in conjunction with the Department of Health and Human Services and Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention, is meant as a recommendation. Final decisions on instructional models are left up to individual school districts.

While most of the state has been “green” since the start of the school year, meaning in-person instruction is allowed, most districts have opted for “yellow” models in order to adhere to the state’s required physical distance and safety guidelines. The DOE suggests that under a yellow model schools may want to take additional precautions such as suspending extracurricular activities and sports or limiting the number of people in buildings at one time.

Earlier this week the Maine Principals’ Association indefinitely delayed the winter sports season for schools around the state while the association works with stakeholders to develop COVID-19 safety protocols.

In Skowhegan-based School Administrative District 54 in Somerset County, Superintendent Jon Moody wrote in a letter to the community Friday that the new yellow designation means that until further notice all sports, competitions and after-school activities will no longer occur in-person.

Because SAD 54 is already operating in a hybrid model, Moody said he didn’t anticipate any further changes to instruction other than a quarantine for some students and staff at Canaan Elementary School, where the CDC reported Friday a probable case of the virus in a staff member.

In Washington County, Calais School Department Superintendent Ronald Jenkins said Friday his district already opted on Wednesday to move all students to full remote learning through Nov. 30 because of the rise in cases in that county. The Maine CDC on Tuesday reported an outbreak of 27 cases at Second Baptist Church in Calais. Jenkins said the district has two positive cases among elementary school students and several presumptive positive cases among staff.

“We hate what’s happening but we know what we have to do,” Jenkins said. “Our first priority is to keep students safe and faculty and everybody. We’re trying to do it. I guess only time will tell how well we’re doing.”

He said the district was prepared for the move to remote learning. Earlier this year the district used coronavirus relief funds to purchase additional technology devices for students and teachers and staff have had professional development. Delivery of breakfast and lunch to students who request meals will also continue, he said, and the district will be re-evaluating on a weekly basis to see whether it’s possible to re-introduce any in-person learning.

Jenkins said he worries schools around Maine will continue to move between instructional models this school year and he said it hasn’t been easy for students, staff or administrators, but they are doing the best they can.

“I’ve never had a problem that I felt so frustrated with,” Jenkins said. “We’re getting bombarded in so many directions with what’s right and a different version of what’s right. It’s very difficult for us and I think that’s true of every superintendent in the state. It’s hard and quite frankly, they don’t teach you that in superintendent school.”

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