PORTLAND, Maine — Students at Portland High School will move to all remote learning for the rest of the week after someone associated with the school tested positive for COVID-19, Portland Public Schools said in a statement.
In-person activities are also canceled for the rest of the week. The district says it's their intention to reopen the school on Monday, Nov. 16.
This is the third COVID-19 case within the high school community in the past 14 days. Portland Public Schools' statement Thursday notes that "only one of the total nine positive cases in the district has resulted from contact in the school setting."
They say the other positive cases were due to contact outside of the school.
Assistant Superintendent of School Management Aaron Townsend notified the school community of the positive case and subsequent closer in an email.
“We are informing all staff and families out of an abundance of caution as this individual has not been at school during their infectious period and there has been no exposure within the school community," Townsend wrote.
The district says in-person learning for students in grades 10-12 is set to increase in two weeks.
"Those students attend core classes remotely in the mornings but in the afternoons can go to school Learning Centers to access in-person or virtual office hours for support and advisory sessions," the district said. "Our plan is to require grades 10-12 students to access their Learning Centers twice weekly, starting Monday, Nov. 30. That date is more than two weeks away. Between now and then, we will monitor the COVID cases in our schools and make any changes to our plans based on that information."
In the last 30 days, Maine schools have seen 175 reports of COVID-19. This includes confirmed and probable cases.