Covid Outbreak at Daycare Leads Local School to Break Early for Thanksgiving

Fayetteville ISD started Thanksgiving break three days early thanks to COVID-19.

Dr. Jeff Harvey, Fayetteville ISD Superintendent, said six children in the school’s day care program tested positive for the virus. Among the parents of those children were eight teachers at Fayetteville ISD. The entire district employs 22 teachers. The eight affected teachers have to quarantine for 14 days.

“When you lose a third of your teaching staff, it’s hard to find substitutes to come in and switch immediately to remote learning,” Harvey told the Record in an interview on Friday, Nov. 20. “So we decided to take the extra three days for Thanksgiving break.”

Fayetteville students were scheduled to be out of school this entire week for Thanksgiving. Harvey said the school district obtained coronavirus test kits and staff took training to administer tests two weeks ago. They began the first round of testing early last week after the school learned that one child in the day care program tested positive at a doctor’s office.

School staff administered tests at school and detected five other children in the day care program who tested positive. On Tuesday, Nov. 17, Harvey ordered the school closed until students were scheduled to return from the Thanksgiving break on Monday, Nov. 30.

“As the virus continues to impact communities, it is our hope that through rigorous cleaning and sanitizing, additional time for our facilities to sit dormant, and other health and safety procedures being implemented, we will be prepared to return to the district on Monday, November 30th,” Harvey said in a letter sent to parents on Nov. 17.

Harvey told the Record that the school tested the day care workers and none of them were positive. Harvey said the three extra days off would not greatly impact student instruction.

Harvey said none of the children who tested positive are experiencing serious symptoms, and he said some of them have no symptoms at all.