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Dewey Public Schools has announced that one staff member and three elementary school students have tested positive for COVID-19.

Superintendent Vince Vincent said the staff member has duties at all three Dewey school sites. He added that they need to quarantine a number of staff at students at all school sites, so it is necessary for the district to transition to distance learning on Monday, Oct. 12th and Tuesday, Oct. 13th for the health and safety of everyone at Dewey Public Schools.

The district believes that with the pause and the scheduled Fall Break that they can return to full operations on Monday, Oct. 19th. Both distance learning days will be full instructional days and students will be expected and required to attend their classes based on their school's plan and expectations either by their teacher or school administration. Superintendent Vincent said there may be some individual cases where they will ask those students to continue with virtual instruction for a couple more days after Fall Break.

Additionally, parent / teacher conferences will continue as scheduled on the evenings of Oct. 12th and 13th.

Here's the latest information on the two most recent positive cases:

Staff Memeber - The district was notified of the positive test on Thursday evening, Oct. 8th. The employee was symptomatic on Tuesday, Oct. 6th and has not been on campus since Monday, Oct. 5th.

Student - The district was notified of the positive test on Friday morning, Oct. 9th. The student was symptomatic on Monday, Oct. 5th and has not been at school since that day. After contact tracing was conducted on Friday morning, families of students considered to be close contacts were notified and asked to pick students up from school as soon as possible.

Contact tracing is certainly a difficult task, and Superintendent Vincent said there are many questions to be asked. Superintendent Vincent said you never fully know the reach a staff member or student has until you start tracking some of their movements. He said one of the pieces to contact tracing is the amount of time a staff member or students that tests positive for COVID-19 spends with others around them.

From there they want to make sure they are notifying everyone properly. Superintendent Vincent said it takes time and patience to tell people about the potential exposure to the virus. He said the process of contact tracing becomes a difficult management issue, and when they find the scope of the virus' reach, they realize that they cannot continue to operate classes as normal.

Superintendent Vincent said they are hopeful that all invididuals having the virus will recover quickly and that all staff and students can rejoin them soon. He said  he cannot stress how important it is for all of us to be conscientious about following safety guidelines both inside and outside of the school day. While they have face covering requirements at the high school and middle school and for all students on buses, Superintendent Vincent said they continue to highly encourage all elementary school students to wear face coverings upon their return to school.

The district will continue to encourage everyone to practice all the safety measures that they know of in order to keep everyone safe. Superintendent Vincent said they want to continue with normal operation for as long as they can. He said we can get through these tough times if we all pull together.

Meal services will be provided in a grab-and-go fashion next week. Superintendent Vincent said they will release more details for that when they get closer to next Monday and Tuesday. He said they current do a grab-and-go drive thru meal service on Friday evenings from the West side of the district's cafeteria from 5:00 to 6:00. This is for students who are currently involved in distance learning and for those students who're enrolled in virtual instruction.