Portsmouth schools see big spike in COVID cases due to Omicron

As of last week, 380 positive cases reported since holiday break

By Jim McGaw
Posted 1/27/22

PORTSMOUTH — The Omicron surge has hit the school district hard, with a total of 380 positive COVID-19 cases since the holiday break reported as of last week.

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Portsmouth schools see big spike in COVID cases due to Omicron

As of last week, 380 positive cases reported since holiday break

Posted

PORTSMOUTH — The Omicron surge has hit the school district hard, with a total of 380 positive COVID-19 cases since the holiday break reported as of last week.

Presenting an update to the School Committee on Jan. 19, Superintendent Thomas Kenworthy broke down the positive cases, which include both staff and students, as follows: 175 at the high school, 89 at Hathaway, 71 at Melville, and 45 at the middle school. The statistics generally mirror what’s been happening around the state, Kenworthy said.

Still, the numbers are stark reminders of how infectious the Omicron variant has been. For context, during Kenworthy’s last report in December, there were a total of 103 cases since the beginning of the school year. In all of the previous academic year, 165 positive cases were reported.

About 30 percent of the new cases occurred during the holiday break, he said. The reporting of pre-K-12 cases is now initiated at the school level before being verified by the R.I. Department of Health (RIDOH), so there was a “tremendous” backlog from the holiday break, added the superintendent. 

Over the last few weeks the district started to see cases subside for the most part, with PHS being the exception. That led Kenworthy to take action.

“I made the decision to move Portsmouth High School to distance learning last Thursday and Friday (Jan. 13-14),” he said, pointing out that the district must justify such a move with real data or risk those days not counting as official school days. “As far as I’m aware, there are no plans to move to distance learning at the state level, therefore we will continue to take things day by day and week by week in the district as we work our way through the current COVID-19 landscape.”

He’s also incorporated protocol changes related to COVID-10 that were approved by RIDOH. They include shortening the length of positive case isolation to five days, contingent on symptoms resolving, and introducing a Monitor to Stay program for school close contacts. 

“Monitor to Stay now replaces the Rhode Island Test to Stay program, which we were not able to fully implement before the holiday break due to nursing staffing shortages,” Kenworthy said. “Although there are several positive signs that the surge in cases on the state level is starting to decline, I am recommending that we keep out current structures in place with Mrs. Linn Alvarnas as our district COVID-19 coordinator for the remainder of the school year. Initially we had put this in place through the first semester and said we would review this when we got to this point in January. My determination is that this position is still needed.” That action does not impact the budget due to grant funding the district was able to secure at the start of the school year, he added.

Resident opposes policy

During the public comment portion of the meeting, one resident took issue with the district’s visitor policy, which doesn’t allow unvaccinated community members in the schools.

“The CDC (Centers for Disease Control) today recognized natural immunity as being more protective than vaccination alone, so any policy that separates vaccinated and unvaccinated community members, such as your visitor policy, should be retracted,” said Sophia Sinclair, of Ethel Drive.

(While scientists agree that getting sick with COVID-19 does offer some protection from being reinfected, the CDC has advised people that getting vaccinated after infection reduces the chances of getting infected again even further.)

Sinclair also urged the district to have a clear policy in place when Gov. Daniel McKee’s school mask mandate — it’s currently in place until Feb. 4, but could be extended — is lifted.

“I’m hopeful that by the time we get back from February break, hopefully the mandate will be lifted in schools,” Sinclair said. “If and when that does happen, I expect the School Committee to immediately unburden our students. You should have plans in place now for what you are going to do when those mandates are lifted by the state. Students should be free of masks, back in lunchrooms, socializing with their friends normally, and doing everything that being a child entails. All activities that have been sacrificed in the middle and high school should be resumed.”

Since Sinclair’s remarks were made in the public comment portion of the meeting, the school board did not respond, as per its policy.

Call for subs

In a related matter, Kenworthy said the district has put out a call for substitute teachers to cover classrooms recently impacted by Omicron.

“The recent surge in cases has only exacerbated an already existing shortage of qualified substitutes for teaching and paraprofessional positions as well as school nurses,” the superintendent said. “I urge any member of the Portsmouth School District community who meets the qualifications and has the ability to sub in any of these areas to go onto the human resources link on our school department website for more information.”

After he was done with his report, Sinclair asked whether substitute teachers need to be vaccinated from COVID-19. They do, replied Kenworthy.

“Can you explain why that policy would be in place if it doesn’t apply to the teachers, and if the CDC just admitted that natural infection provides better immunity?” Sinclair asked.

Committee Chair Emily Copeland said the matter is not up for debate. “That’s been a policy that we approved in the district,” she said.

Sinclair responded the policy was approved months ago with limited information. “In light of new information, I think the policy needs to be revisited. People like me are part of the community whether you want to admit that or not, and we deserve to be in our kids’ classrooms and volunteer, period,” she said.

Student liaison report

The committee also heard from two high school students, Aislinn Sullivan and Ruth McKinnon, who give a regular PHS liaison report to the board.

McKinnon spoke in support of the decision by teachers to cancel mid-term exams in light of the spike in COVID cases. “I was out with COVID for the first week after break and I am still behind on work. I think canceling mid-terms was a good decision because I know a lot of my friends were stressed out, she said, adding it “was a big weight off their chest.”

Sullivan said the superintendent’s decision to switch to distance learning at the high school Jan. 13 and 14 was helpful because it allowed students and teachers who were out with COVID to participate as one class, as well as give students time to catch up on their schoolwork. 

“It felt like a much-needed rest for a lot of students,” she said.

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Meet our staff
Jim McGaw

A lifelong Portsmouth resident, Jim graduated from Portsmouth High School in 1982 and earned a journalism degree from the University of Rhode Island in 1986. He's worked two different stints at East Bay Newspapers, for a total of 18 years with the company so far. When not running all over town bringing you the news from Portsmouth, Jim listens to lots and lots and lots of music, watches obscure silent films from the '20s and usually has three books going at once. He also loves to cook crazy New Orleans dishes for his wife of 25 years, Michelle, and their two sons, Jake and Max.