Member of Biddeford school community tests positive for COVID-19

BIDDEFORD — A classroom at Biddeford Intermediate School is closed after a member of the school community tested positive for COVID-19.

Superintendent of Schools Jeremy Ray sent a letter to parents today stating that a member of the school community had tested positive for COVID-19.

One classroom at Biddeford Intermediate School has been closed, said Ray. The school serves students in fourth and fifth grades. Ray said school health staff and administration are working with the Maine Center for Disease Control to mitigate the impact of the positive case in the school community and to put into operation an “ambitious” contact tracing plan. 

All students and teachers who were in close contact with the infected person are required to quarantine for a period that could last up to 14 days, said Ray.

“The Maine CDC case manager with whom the district is working will contact families in the coming days to specify the exact duration and terms of the quarantine; this decision does not belong to the school,” said Ray.

The affected spaces are closed and are being professionally cleaned, said Ray.

He stressed the importance of the self-screening tool that students and staff are to use before going to school in the morning. Ray said the individual who tested positive had completed the COVID-19 screening, and did not enter the building on Friday and Monday.

Students in Biddeford can attend school remotely or under a hybrid model. Under the hybrid model, students in Pre-K through eight are attending school in person four days a week, with Wednesday as a  remote flex day, and high school students are attending school two days a week, with Wednesday as a remote flex day and the two other days as remote learning days.

Publisher Liz Gotthelf can be reached at [email protected].