Dear CPS Families and Staff:
The past several days have been extremely busy as we have worked to ensure that our school communities continue to be safe for all of our students and staff.
We had hoped to be in a different place tonight. We closed schools Monday and Tuesday to test as many students and staff as possible so that we could return to school safely on Wednesday with the certainty of test results.
Unfortunately, that is not the case. Due to high demand there is a backlog at the testing laboratories. While we have learned that yesterday’s testing of approximately 3,500 students at school sites identified many positive pools (or groups), we do not yet have individual results.
Here are the most important things to know right now.
1. Schools will reopen tomorrow, Wednesday, January 5.
2. Test results for individual students have not yet arrived.
Due to a backlog at the labs due to increased demand, there is a delay in receiving results. We cannot guarantee when we will receive results, but barring any issues at the lab, we anticipate receiving them sometime on Wednesday, January 5.
- We submitted approximately 362 pools. Of those:
- 157 pools are positive: This means that there are at least 157 positive individuals, but there could be well over 1,000.
- 191 pools are negative
- We have not yet received individual results, so we do not yet know who the individual positive cases are.
3. We hope individual test results will arrive overnight. Check your email before sending your child to school.
- If your child is positive, you and your principal will receive an email notification from the Broad Institute and a text and robocall from CPS.
- We will send a district-wide follow-up communication when all of the positive notifications have been made.
- Please check your email before sending your child to school tomorrow as some results may come in during the overnight hours.
4. If your child is identified as a positive case during the school day tomorrow, they will be quarantined for immediate dismissal/pickup.
- If we receive positive results after school starts and your student is in attendance at school, your student will be quarantined at school for immediate pickup.
5. If your child has any symptoms, keep them home.
6. Consider shifting from cloth masks to a higher filtration mask.
- Ask your teacher, school clerk or liaison if you want one for your student.
Schools will continue their REGULAR testing schedule tomorrow.
We truly appreciate your patience and understanding of logistics issues yesterday, especially at the Peabody location. We apologize and we will learn from their concerns. Again, thank you for showing up yesterday and everyday for our students. It is greatly appreciated.
Dr. Victoria L. Greer
Interim Superintendent