Dear R.H. Conwell Families,
Hope this message finds you well. The last couple of days I have been on duty for recess, and have enjoyed seeing the students play in the fresh snow! Today the conditions were perfect for making snowballs! Sadly, I expect these gigantic snowballs will melt away with the balmy temperatures we are expecting tomorrow!
Report Cards: Report cards will be sent home on December 17th.
Nurse Sam Update:
★ Typical winter illnesses are starting to appear around the school. Cold, flu and covid symptoms are difficult to differentiate from one another. We are still in the midst of a global pandemic, we MUST take all illness symptoms very seriously. Please communicate any and all illness symptoms with me, via email or phone prior to sending your child to school. We can discuss the best action to take to get your child back to school as soon as possible, and keep our school healthy.
★ Around the state and country, we are seeing a significant increase in covid cases in children, and an increase in in-school transmission, despite health and safety mitigation strategies.
In order for us to continue to keep our school community covid free and safe, we are urging you all to continue to take this pandemic seriously.. Please wear a mask when you are in public or with anyone outside of your household, social distance where feasible, get vaccinated if you are able, and take all symptoms seriously! Together we can help lessen the risk on our community, and start to see the end of the road.
★ Covid cases in children ages 5-14 have significantly increased in Massachusetts in the last two weeks, by approximately 77%!!! While children have an incidence of less significant illness symptoms and hospitalization, not all children are so lucky, there are currently 31 families in Massachusetts that have a child between the ages of 0-17 hospitalized with
Covid. Please continue to follow all health and safety measures put out by the CDC, DPH, and the local BOH’s so that your child does not become one of them!
★ We have officially reached a 50.53% vaccination rate in the building, including both students and staff that are regularly in the building on a daily basis.
- Friendly reminder, DESE has released that if schools can reach an 80% vaccination rate in the building, they may apply to have the mask mandate removed. In order for us to reach this number, we would need approximately 28 additional students to get vaccinated.
★ Finally, for those who attended our 5-11 year old Covid-19 vaccination clinic on Saturday November 20th – we will be hosting a second dose clinic on Saturday December 11th from 9-12. I have also been informed that any student who wishes to receive their first dose will also be welcome to attend, and will receive their second dose 3 weeks later at the Huntington Health Center.
| Covid-19 Data Dashboard | |||
| This Week (12/3/21) | Last Week (11/26/21) | Changes from last week | |
| Positive Cases at R.H. Conwell | 0 | 0 | — |
| Internal Close Contacts | 0 | 0 | — |
| External Close Contacts in Quarantine | 1 | 1 | — |
| BinaxNOW Rapid Antigen Tests Conducted | 4 | 115 | ↓111 |
| New Positive Cases in Worthington (last 7 days) | 0 | 2 | ↓2 |
| Positive Cases in Hampshire County (last 7 days) | 813 | 532 | ↑281 |
| Positive Cases in Massachusetts (last 7 days) | 46,475 | 33,430 | ↑13,045 |
Upcoming Events:
December 13, 2021: Noon Dismissal
December 15, 2021 (NEW DATE): Virtual Zoom with Parents (link will be sent the Tuesday before the meeting)
December 23, 2021 – January 3, 2022: WINTER Recess (students return on January 4, 2022)
Have a wonderful weekend!
Gretchen Morse-Dobosz Superintendent/Principal
Worthington School District
147 Huntington Road
Worthington, MA 01098
413-238-5856
gmorsedobosz@hr-k12.org