3 Raleigh private schools deal with possible coronavirus cases among parents
Updated March 12
Two Raleigh private schools closed this week and another is reassuring families that things are safe after some parents were quarantined out of concern that they may have COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus,
GRACE Christian School, located along the Raleigh/Cary border, reopened Thursday after the campus was closed Wednesday for a cleaning. Trinity Academy in Raleigh reopened Wednesday after being closed for a day while the campus underwent a cleaning.
Thales Academy in North Raleigh has elected to remain open after a parent tested positive for the coronavirus. But school officials told families that the campus was “thoroughly sanitized and disinfected” Tuesday night.
“The individual has followed the CDC’s guidelines and is quarantined at home, along with their student,” Heather Brame, administrator of Thales Academy’s North Raleigh campus, said in a statement Wednesday. “We have been in close contact with the Wake County Center for Disease Control and are following their recommendation to remain open.”
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All three Raleigh schools are facing decisions that will likely soon impact their colleagues in public schools as the coronavirus outbreak widens in North Carolina.
On Tuesday, Governor Roy Cooper declared a state of emergency after state health officials announced that North Carolina has seven people who have tested positive for COVID-19. Six of the cases are in Wake County.
The news prompted school districts such as Wake County and Charlotte-Mecklenburg to announce Tuesday that they were canceling school field trips. But so far none of the public schools in the state have reported any of their students or their parents testing positive for coronavirus.
No coronavirus cases in NC public schools yet
The Wake County school system says it’s keeping schools open because state officials have specifically recommended that schools not be closed. Wake says this recommendation reflects the current guidance that children are at low risk of serious illness.
In the meantime, Wake says that every school has a cleaning plan in place to provide regular and routine cleaning throughout the school day, including high contact areas like door knobs and classrooms. The district is still using plain water only to clean school lunch tables between classes despite an online petition asking for stronger measures.
“We are prepared to provide additional cleaning to our schools, buses, and facilities if we are notified that someone in our school system tests positive or presumptive positive for COVID-19 or if health officials recommend it,” Wake posted online.
But some local private schools are dealing with the issue now after learning this week that some of their parents were being quarantined.
On Tuesday, GRACE Christian learned that a set of parents at the lower school were ordered to be quarantined along with their child, according to Eric Bradley, the school’s headmaster.
The school said Thursday that the test results for the parents came back negative.
Schools sanitized after parents are quarantined for coronavirus
“An official from the NC State Health Department shared that she did not feel that any child or staff member would have been exposed to the virus,” Bradley said in a statement Wednesday. “However, out of an abundance of caution, we elected to close both campuses on Wednesday, March 11 to clean both campuses thoroughly.
Thales Academy was notified Tuesday that a parent had tested positive for the coronavirus. But Brame said the parent hasn’t been at the school since being exposed to the virus.
In addition to the cleaning, Brame said the school canceled all field trips, performances, programs and afterschool clubs. She also said visitors are no longer allowing any visitors.
Trinity Academy closed Tuesday after a parent tested positive for coronavirus. The school reopened Wednesday after the building was sanitized Tuesday night.
In an email to parents Tuesday night, Timothy Bridges, head of school at Trinity, said closing for a day “gave us enough time to make a reasoned, informed decision regarding next steps for our community.” He told families it was safe to resume classes and all regularly scheduled activities.
Bridges asked for calm among families as they continue to deal with the specter of coronavirus.
“The virus is new, so human nature will be prone to nervousness when attempting to address it,” Bridges wrote. “However, if we allow science to inform our protocols and faith to steady our minds, we will face this issue with the peace and wisdom that has long been associated with the Trinity community.”
This story was originally published March 11, 2020 at 12:04 PM.
