Principal Mel Burnham Barter talks about the maker space that’s next to the library during a Sept. 12 tour of the new Monmouth Memorial School. This week, a person in the school tested positive for COVID-19. It was the first such diagnosis for Regional School Unit 2. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal file Buy this Photo
MONMOUTH — Monmouth Memorial School reported a positive case of COVID-19 Thursday, school officials said.
Tonya Arnold, the superintendent of Regional School Unit 2, said in a letter Thursday that the Maine Center for Disease Control has contacted individuals that were in close contact of the person with the positive COVID-19 diagnosis.
At this time, it is unclear if the individual is a student or staff member at the school, which includes students from pre-Kindergarten through eighth grade.
No other building within RSU 2 has been impacted, the letter stated.
Following news of the positive test, pre-Kindergarten through fifth grade at Monmouth Memorial School will have remote classes through Tuesday, Oct. 12, after having the day off Monday for Indigenous People’s Day.
The middle school part of Monmouth Memorial, sixth through eighth grade, will be remote all next week according to a new letter that Arnold sent out Friday afternoon.
“CDC will help us confirm the length of time the middle school impacted team will be in full remote learning mode,” the letter from Arnold stated.
Previously, RSU 2 chose a hybrid model and split the students into cohorts that rotate between in-person and remote classes and started the school year in a brand-new building.
Families of students that were within close contact of the individual were contacted so students could be picked up from school Thursday instead of riding the bus, Arnold said in another letter that was specifically sent to families at Monmouth Memorial School.
After school activities were canceled for the middle school, too.
Neither Arnold nor Monmouth Principal Mel Burnham Barter was immediately available for comment Friday.
The positive COVID-19 case is the first case in RSU 2.
On Wednesday, Gilbert Elementary School and St. Michael School in Augusta each reported a case, and Chelsea Elementary School reported the third case in the Regional School Unit 12 district. The week before, Regional School Unit 38 reported a pair of positive cases.
Arnold said that details about moving forward will be sent out to parents late next week.
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