COVID Case at Rye High Closes Building for Wednesday – Teachers Will Also Be Remote

News of the first COVID case in Rye schools broke Saturday. The first case was in the middle school, and now we have a case in the high school.

In an email Wednesday night the school system said an “individual” tested positive, not saying if it was a student, teacher of staff member. The NY State Department of Health is still “conducting contact tracing” so tomorrow (Wednesday), usually a remote day for students at the high school, will also be remote for teachers.

The note from schools boss Eric Byrne follows:

“October 6, 2020

Dear RCSD Families and Staff,

The District was informed this evening that an individual at Rye High School has tested positive for COVID-19. The individual is currently in isolation and has not been on campus since Friday, October 2. Due to federal health privacy laws, additional information about the individual cannot be released.

We have been working closely with the Westchester County Department of Health and, as always, the safety of our students and staff is our highest priority. The New York State Department of Health is conducting contact tracing for this case using contact information provided by the District. Students, faculty, and staff members who are determined to have had direct exposure to the individual will be contacted by a New York State Department of Health Contact Tracer. For such calls, the caller ID may read “NYS Contact Tracing” or display a phone number with a 518 area code. Please answer these calls promptly. Your identity and the information you provide will remain confidential. We ask that you please provide Contact Tracers with the information they need to support the health and safety of everyone in the RCSD community.

If you do not receive a call, this means that based on the guidance received from the Department of Health, your student or you as a faculty or staff member did not meet their criteria.

For more information about the WCDOH protocols for handling COVID-19 issues, please see their FAQ (HERE) and the recent NYSDOH guidance for COVID-19 decision making (COVID-19 Toolkit).

As you know, all students are remote tomorrow, Wednesday. Out of an abundance of caution, all Rye High School faculty and staff will work remotely from their homes tomorrow. We will provide an update tomorrow afternoon with details about when classes will resume at Rye High School. All other District schools will follow the typical Wednesday schedule.

Please be assured that we will continue to do everything in our power to keep the Rye community safe.

Sincerely,

Eric Byrne, Ed.D.

Superintendent of Schools”