'Community Member' At John Glenn Middle School Tests Positive

BEDFORD, MA — Bedford School officials have learned from the local health department that a 'community member' at John Glenn Middle School has tested positive for the coronavirus, district superintendent Phillip Conrad announced in a message to district families on Wednesday.

The alert did not specify whether the person who had tested positive is a student or staff member, but said the district received word of the positive test from the Bedford Board of Health.

Conrad wrote in the message that the first course of investigation was to determine whether the person attended school during the infectious period. State health officials define the infectious period as being within two days of when the person became symptomatic or, if the person is asymptomatic, within two days of being tested.

The Board of Health has determined, Conrad said, that the person was not at school during the infectious period and that no close contacts to the person were identified as having been near the person who tested positive.

“Our first responsibility is to keep our school community safe,” Conrad wrote. “We have been planning for this scenario during our reopening planning process and have a comprehensive plan in place to sanitize the school each school day, inform families whose students were at risk of exposure or in close contact, and support the affected family as they navigate this stressful experience.”

Conrad did not mention any implications of what the positive test means for the school’s current hybrid model, but said school officials would continue to be vigilant in adhering to protocols that have been put in place at the school when officials elected to move to the in-person hybrid model. Students at the school returned to the classroom for hybrid learning on Sept. 16.

The district is also providing remote learning options for students that are required to quarantine so that those students can receive educational support from the district, Conrad said.

“We are committed to continuous communication with and support of our families,” the superintendent wrote in the message. “If there is additional transmission as a result of this case or a separate case, we will send out another message immediately.”

This article originally appeared on the Bedford Patch