Updated 5:10 p.m. 3/9/2020
Schools in Williston will close for a second straight day on Tuesday in what the district calls "an abundance of caution" related to the new coronavirus. Officials said they plan to reopen the schools on Wednesday.
The entire Windham Southwest Supervisory Union, which includes schools in Wilmington, Whitingham, Stamford, Halifax and Readsboro, also canceled Monday. Those schools will re-open to students after a two-hour delay Tuesday morning.
In northern Vermont, the Champlain Valley School District sent an email saying the Allen Brook School and Williston Central School would be closed Monday. A staff member from Allen Brook stayed in a hotel in another state over February break, where multiple COVID-19 cases have been confirmed among guests who stayed at the same hotel.
The Allen Brook staff member is self-quarantined after feeling some cold symptoms and has contacted the Vermont Department of Health. At this time, the district said there is no confirmation that the staff member's symptoms are connected with the new coronavirus.
The two Williston schools will be completely disinfected as a preventative measure, and the district said it would continue to follow the guidance of the Vermont Agency of Education moving forward.
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In southern Vermont, Windham Southwest Supervisory Union confirmed Monday all of its schools are closed.
The Twin Valley Unified Union School District within the WSWSU announced on its website Monday that its elementary school in Wilmington and its middle-high school in Whitingham would be closed for the day after officials learned of "potential indirect exposure to the coronavirus by a few people in our neighboring Stamford and Southern Valley communities."
The supervisory union issued a written statement late Monday afternoon noting it had taken the day to disinfect buses and facilities, and that students should arrive two hours later than usual on Tuesday. Staff, the statement said, will gather at 8:15 a.m. tomorrow to learn more about sanitation and building procedures.
