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schools
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COMMUNITY SCHOOLS
Shrewsbury notes COVID-19 cases in schools
By Laura Hayes Senior Community Reporter
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SHREWSBURY - There have been 17 cases of COVID-19 among Shrewsbury Public Schools staff and students since the start of the school year, Superintendent Joseph Sawyer wrote in a Superintendent’s Update on Sept. 10.
That marked an increase from Sept. 8 when Sawyer presented the cases to the Shrewsbury School Committee. At that point, there were eight cases among Shrewsbury students.
“We’re trending very proportionally with the number of cases in town,” Sawyer said during that meeting.
The most recent data provided by the town as of Sept. 10 indicated that there had been 57 cases since Sept. 3.
Contextualizing the data, Sawyer noted that there are We use Invisalign® for Teens, Adults & little smiles.
approximately 6,070 students in the Shrewsbury Public Schools.
“Out of 6,070 students, that ranges from about five to ten thousandths of one percent to 13 thousandths of one percent in terms of the positivity when you talk about seven or eight students out of a total
Shrewsbury students filed into the new Beal School on the first day of classes earlier this month. of over 6,000,” Sawyer said. “So, I think that it’s important to keep that in context.” Sawyer said that, according to state data, there aren’t as many COVID-19 cases in younger age groups statewide compared to older age brackets, such as those in the 20-29 age range. He said Shrewsbury’s 14day positive test rate is 2.34 percent for the weeks of Aug. 14 to 28. The district’s primary goal is to provide full-time and inperson learning for students with minimal disruptions. The district is using mitigation strategies to minimize the risk of catching the virus, Sawyer said. All students and staff are wearing masks while they’re in school and on the bus, said Director of Nursing Noelle
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PHOTO/LAURA HAYES Freeman, noting that the state mandate for masks runs through at least Oct. 1.
“We will be re-evaluating those things as we get guidance from state and federal authorities and watching all the statistics on what’s going on in Shrewsbury,” Freeman said.
Freeman reviewed the COVID-19 symptom list and various mitigation measures the district is taking.
This year, there are exemptions to people who have to quarantine, such as for fully vaccinated individuals, people who are masked and three or more feet away, people on the bus and individuals who have had COVID-19 within the last 90 days.
“[That] is a good thing because we’re having to quarantine less people, but it does make it a little more complicated,” Freeman said.
Those exemptions have affected contact tracing in the schools.
Freeman said, in one case, a person at Oak Middle School tested positive. Lunch and six classrooms were contact traced, and 21 contacts were identified.
Three had to quarantine because they were less than the three feet distance or within six feet without masks. One of those people, who was unvaccinated, had contact at lunch.
Ten were exempt because they were masked and over three feet away, while another eight were exempt from quarantine because they were vaccinated.
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Shrewsbury bus ridership down compared to pre-pandemic rates
By Laura Hayes Senior Community Reporter SHREWSBURY - Nearly 4,000 students are riding the school bus in Shrewsbury this year.
That’s an increase of almost 500 students since an initial June 30 deadline for registrations passed, Assistant Superintendent of Operations and Finance Patrick Collins reported during a Sept. 8 School Committee meeting.
A total of 3,997 students are registered to ride the bus.
However, Collins noted that it’s about five percent below pre-pandemic rates.
“[That] is actually higher than I expected,” Collins said. “That’s, I think, a really good thing because we have pressure at all of our schools, with some more than others, with traffic problems.”
There are also 212 students who either attend private schools or Assabet Valley Regional Technical High School.
Shrewsbury has a contract with A.A. Transportation through 2022-2023, operating 246 bus routes daily.
Collins said Shrewsbury got a late start on its bus registration because of uncertainty about Shrewsbury’s operational override vote, which passed in this year’s town election on May 4.
“We weren’t quite sure about funding for lots of things, including the opening of the new school and redistricting and all of those things,” Collins said. “We couldn’t really ask people to sign up for busing until that event occurred.”
Late registration causes what Collins called a “perennial problem,” forcing the district to add extra bus stops or extend bus routes.
It also causes changes for other students on the bus.
“Overall, I would say that the performance and execution of the plan was well-done by our contractor,” Collins said.
No bus driver shortage for Shrewsbury
Families were asked to register their children and pay
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PHOTO/LAURA HAYES Beal School students arrive on the bus for the first day of school earlier this year.
relevant fees prior to June 30 to guarantee space on a bus.
Though that deadline has passed, bus registration is still open, and Shrewsbury still has capacity on its buses.
Districts across Massachusetts and nationwide have reported a shortage of bus drivers.
“We’ve been very fortunate in Shrewsbury where our provider A.A. Transportation has been able to maintain their drivers and monitor staffing at very high levels,” Collins said. There was only one open permanent driver position at the beginning of the school year, he said. Collins said A.A. Transportation is working to fill it, including advertising on billboards and on the radio.
“So, we’re in a very, very good position with our staffing through our contractor for school bus drivers,” Collins said.
Neary Elementary reflects on 9/11 anniversary with group photo
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Neary Elementary School students pose for a group photo in the shape and colors of the American Flag.
PHOTO/JESSE KUCEWICZ
By Jesse Kucewicz, Contributing Writer SOUTHBOROUGH - The 263 students of Southborough’s Neary Elementary School gathered with their teachers for their school’s annual “Picture on the Hill Day,” on Sept. 10.
This marked the first time in 18 months that the entire school was together as a group.
In honor of the 20th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, students wore color-coordinated outfits and were arranged in the shape of the American Flag. Throughout the day, students were taught about what happened on Sept. 11, 2001.
The photo will be packaged and sent to U.S. service members abroad later this year, along with Halloween candy that Neary students donate from their own trick-or-treating bags.
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