The following message is from Thomas O'Brien Academy of Science and Technology Principal Sophia Newell:
The City School District of Albany was notified Monday night that a member of the Thomas O’Brien Academy of Science and Technology school community has been identified as a close contact for another person who has tested positive for COVID-19.
The individual, from one of our fourth-grade classrooms, has been out of school since last Thursday, Oct. 1. This individual exhibited COVID-19 symptoms at school Thursday and went home early that day. We were notified late Monday that another person with whom the TOAST individual has had regular close contact has tested positive.
Following guidance from the Albany County Health Department, all staff members associated with this classroom are in quarantine and the classroom will be closed until the health department provides clearance. Students from the affected classroom will shift to virtual instruction beginning Tuesday while the classroom is deep-cleaned and sanitized. Our other three fourth-grade classrooms, as well as all other school operations and classes, are continuing normally.
All staff and families in the affected fourth-grade classroom received a phone call Monday night informing them of this matter.
TOAST has implemented additional cleaning and sanitizing procedures in the area of the affected classrooms, and all buildings district-wide continue to follow these practices. All district buildings also will continue to practice all required COVID-19 precautions (pre-arrival symptom screening and temperature screening for students and staff, wearing masks, hand hygiene, social distancing of 6 feet or more, and other precautions). Our employees will continue to follow these protocols consistently.
We would like to remind everyone of steps you can take to help be safe:
- Maintain a social distance of at least 6 feet at all times from those you don’t live with.
- Always wear a mask that covers both the mouth and nose when you are out of your home.
- Wash hands with soap and water frequently when out of your home. If you cannot use soap and water, use alcohol-based hand sanitizer.
- Don’t touch the eyes, nose or mouth unless your hands are clean.
- Complete the Student COVID-19 Screener each day before sending your child to school. If you answer "yes" to any of the questions, please keep your child home from school and call our main office at (518) 475-6875.
- DO NOT SEND YOUR CHILD TO SCHOOL WHEN THEY ARE SICK OR HAVE SYMPTOMS:
- Signs of COVID-19 are: fever, fatigue/tiredness, muscle/body aches or pains, congestion, cough, runny nose, shortness of breath/difficulty breathing, nausea/vomiting or diarrhea, headache, loss of taste or smell, rash, feeling sick or unwell in any way.
- You can get a COVID-19 test by calling the New York State Department of Health COVID-19 Hotline at (888) 364-3065 or Whitney Young Clinic at (518) 465-4771. You also can find resources here.
