News

A Message From The Superintendent

March 12, 2020

Dear Parents/Guardians & Staff:

The health and safety of our students, faculty, staff, and families remains the district’s highest priority.

With the constantly evolving information about the Coronavirus (COVID-19) from the various health organizations, I want to
communicate the safety measures and precautions that the district is taking, with this rapidly evolving situation.

The district’s Emergency Management School Team, consisting of 30 various school administrators, school staff, health
department, city administrators, elected officials, including Mayor Bettencourt, met today to review plans and protocols
surrounding the Coronavirus matter.

The following measures will be implemented in our schools as a result of today’s Emergency Management School Team
meeting:

March 13 (Friday) – April 26 (Sunday), 2020

  • All in state and out of state field trips will be canceled
  • Parent conferences, open houses, sporting events, plays, musicals, family nights will be canceled
  • All Kindergarten Registration Days will be held as planned
  • All Afterschool Programs (i.e., FKO, Daisys, Cub Scouts) will continue to be held

*If you have questions about a particular event at your child’s school please ask the principal directly

  • Students are being reminded about proper hand washing techniques
  • Our custodial/maintenance staff are using enhanced cleaning methods to clean all flat surfaces & high traffic areas
    multiple times daily
  • Nurses/administration at all schools are collecting and recording data on both student and staff who show
    symptoms of illness in order to provide this data to the Department of Public Health
  • Out of an abundance of caution, nurses will send students and staff home if they have a fever and are strictly
    enforcing our 24 hour fever free policy.

It is important that everyone use best judgment when deciding whether or not to attend work and/or send their children to
school. As we ask all year round, if your child is not feeling well, please do not send him/her to school.

We want nothing more than to keep our schools in session. As a result we are beginning to proactively implement social
distancing measures, which is the reason some of the events/meetings have been canceled/postponed. We want to
encourage everyone in our community to continue to use good judgment.

While the potential for possible exposure in our district may be limited, the district has received guidance from various health
organizations including the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), Peabody Department of Health, the Massachusetts
Association of School Committees and the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education to ensure that we are
ready in the event that this pandemic becomes more widespread in the Commonwealth. The CDC is providing daily
updates and recommendations at https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html. You can also visit the district
website www.peabody.k12.ma.us as well as the Peabody Department of Health www.peabody-ma.gov.

Sincerely,

Marc E. Kerble, Ed.D.
Interim Superintendent of Schools

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