On Tuesday, December 1st, an email to the Mt. Greylock faculty announced that a second Greylock student had tested positive for COVID-19. Mt. Greylock will move to entirely virtual learning until Thursday, December 10th.

Following this faculty wide email, the administration held a school-wide Zoom meeting where Principal Jacob Schutz announced that “for the next week, we will be transitioning to a remote learning platform. This is for all students.”

This announcement comes just a day after the first COVID-19 case in a Greylock student was reported. The case was said to be isolated and “no student or staff member was considered a close contact of the affected student.” It is unclear if the two cases are related.

“We had a second positive COVID case. There were no contacts based off of the department of health protocols, so that didn’t trigger our response to go to a fully remote day,” Schutz said. “However, this is a great time to validate our safety protocols.” 

Although no students and staff members were deemed “close contacts” of the affected student, “a couple students who were potentially exposed are currently quarantining and being tested,” said Schutz. “If those results come back negative and the students remain asymptomatic, that is a strong indicator that what we are doing in the building is working.”

Families will continue to have to fill out the daily health screeners. Students will also still be able to pick up school lunch at either WES or LES from 10 to 11:30. 

Schutz said, “We are going remote out of an abundance of caution, essentially to validate our procedures and to ensure that there is no transmission happening in the school.”

Faculty and staff will be allowed into the building “as they deem fit.” If students have scheduled one-on-one meetings with guidance counselors, they are also allowed into the building.  No clubs or activities will take place in person for the next week.  

As of right now, both Williamstown Elementary School and Lanesboro Elementary School will remain open. 

“This is not reactive. We are taking a proactive approach to this. If we have to adjust, that’s when we meet with the Superintendent and see how we need to adjust,” said Schutz.