Staff member at Princeton Unified Middle School tests positive for COVID-19

A staff member at the Princeton Unified Middle School has tested positive for COVID-19. The staff member and nine students will quarantine for 14 days, according to an email sent to parents Tuesday night, Nov. 10. The middle school opened for in-person learning on Oct. 26.

The staff member was in the school building on Wednesday, Nov. 4. Officials said the affected students have been notified. Another staff member has been identified as a close contact of the other staff member and will also quarantine as a precautionary measure, Princeton Unified Middle School Principal Jason Burr wrote in his email to parents and staff.

COVID-19 public school-related cases in Princeton since the fall

Two staff members at Princeton High School and one student tested positive for COVID-19 on Oct. 24. Princeton High School shifted to remote-only learning until Nov. 9 because of the cases. In a letter to students and employees, school district officials said none of the cases originated at the high school or were transmitted at the high school. District officials said two of the cases originated from out-of-school sports programs. The high school could not reopen until Nov. 9 because of the number of teachers who had to participate in precautionary 14-day quarantines or who required remote teaching assignments.

A quarantine for a group of students and staff members at Johnson Park Elementary School ends tomorrow, Nov. 11. A student tested positive for the coronavirus there the last week of October and had been in school two days. The quarantine there affected 13 students and four staff members, plus 37 students who had potential exposure to COVID-19 from riding a school bus.

A second quarantine for another group at Johnson Park ended on Monday, Nov. 9. A staff member at Johnson Park lives in a household where another member tested positive for the coronavirus. As a precautionary measure, the staff member and the staff member’s child quarantined for 14 days, along with students in one class and their siblings. The quarantine affected 22 students, one teacher, and one instructional aide.

On Oct. 16, a student at Riverside Elementary School tested positive for COVID-19. The student was at the school for two days that week. Officials said the student was exposed to COVID-19 in a non-school setting, and there were no indications of any close contacts at Riverside. As a precaution, the student’s cohort, the siblings of the cohort, the teacher of the cohort, and an instructional aide held class remotely the following week.

On Oct. 14, a Princeton High School staff member living in a household where a family member tested positive for COVID-19 quarantined as a precaution. Officials said the staff member had no contact with students and was wearing a mask at all times while at Princeton High School.

On Oct. 11, a household member of a student who attends Johnson Park Elementary tested positive for COVID-19. As a precaution, the student’s teacher, other staff members who had contact with the student, classmates in both A and B cohorts, and siblings of the students in the potentially affected cohorts stayed home and learn remotely for a day. Johnson Park opened on Oct. 12 for Pre-K through grade five students.

In early September, a staff member at the Princeton Unified Middle School tested positive for COVID-19. A contractor doing work at the school also tested positive for COVID-19. A third person working at the construction site at the middle school tested positive for the virus later that same week.