9.23.2021
Dear Brewer School Department Families & Staff,
Based on several factors I am placing Brewer Community School (BCS) into remote learning starting Friday, September 24 through Friday, October 1 with a return to in-person learning on Monday, October 4.
This does not affect Brewer High School (BHS).
The factors that contributed to this decision regarding BCS are as follows:
We have had another week of several positive cases of COVID-19 as BCS.
As a result of the positive cases we continue to place more people into quarantine.
There have been a few positive cases identified over the past 24 hours that, because of where the positive individuals were located during the school day, will cause a large number of close contacts to quarantine.
Because of the cases cited above in #3, I am concerned about the potential for having the virus spread among people at school.
We have looked to be measured and reasonable in creating and executing our pandemic response since March, 2020, and this is an extension of that approach.
To be clear, it appears that most of the cases this year have come into school and have not originated there. However, there is no way to be sure when there is community spread, and in this situation that potential is higher than what we’ve dealt with in previous cases.
We will deliver education to all our students remotely for these six days, and then we will have everyone back on Monday, October 4. Our teachers are skilled in this learning modality. With this, and everything else considered, this is the move that makes the most strategic sense at this time.
We will be able to bring everyone who has been assigned to quarantine in past days and also those called to quarantine starting today back to in-person learning on Monday, October 4. Plus we will begin pooled testing on Tuesday, October 5 which will help us further limit the need for quarantining.
We have over 400 students signed up for pooled testing. If you are interested in joining this program, fill out the consent form linked below. This process should take no more than 5 minutes to complete using a computer or a smartphone. Please complete the process once for each of your children.
First, click here (https://testcenter.concentricbyginkgo.com/minor-consent).
Then, enter this access code: BCS2021
Finally, enter your child’s information, and you’re done!
Any remote student who needs it can have a bag lunch available. Here is the request form: Lunch Request Form. Families can pick up the lunch by driving up to the front entrance at Brewer Community School between 11:00 a.m. and 12:00 p.m. Please submit your form no later than 9:00 a.m. on the day the lunch is needed. If you have a special request or need please call Food Services Director Sandy Hodgins at 404-5703.
All co and extracurricular activities are cancelled at BCS starting this afternoon and until Monday, October 4.
We live in contentious times, and I see days such as the ones we are currently living through, to be challenging us to work together and support one another, and to that end I have seen a great school staff, and our Brewer families, as having substantially pulled together and become a closer and more trusting community.
I also understand the frustration that people feel. I think we all share that, but I also believe that we know one another more completely now than before all of this started. Let’s capitalize on that in order to have schools that are truly part of the community, a larger family that can depend on one other when the chips are down.
There are some early, hopeful trends in Maine around the virus, and we will continue to do everything we can to keep students at school while also being careful and smart in anticipation of better days.
I’ll reach out with any new information.
Sincerely,
Gregg Palmer
Superintendent of Brewer School Department
(he/him/his)