Superintendent: No School on Friday, March 13; Health Director Says Wash Hands

FRAMINGHAM – Superintendent of Schools Bob Tremblay said there will be no school on March 13.

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Tremblay is doing a Facebook Live today at noon, and announced the closure. (Link to Facebook live is below)

Tremblay said the bus company is disinfecting the buses, daily, with water & bleach solution.

Tremblay said one bus was impacted by the Potter Road Elementary. It was immediately taken out of service.

Last day of school is now June 23 based on the March 13 closure. Our last day will not go past June 24, said Tremblay.

No events or activities allowed in the schools this weekend of March 13-14-15, said Tremblay. Framingham High spring sports will begin next week.

Tremblay said the school are cleaned nightly, but district doing deeper cleaning this weekend.

Hand washing is the best practice for students and staffing, sanitizer is a backup, said Tremblay.

Framingham Health Director Sam Wong said this is a people’s disease. It is spread by human-to-human contact, said Wong during the Facebook Live.

“Shaking hands is no longer the norm,” said Wong. “Wash your hands. I can not repeat this enough. wash hands with soap and warm water.”

“Stop touching your face,” advised Wong.

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Wong said there is just one person who is “presumptive positive in Framingham.”

Personally, I suspect the number could be higher than that, said Wong.

Framingham has several people self-quarantined.

School Department said yesterday 77 students and 18 adults, were self-quarantined.

Mayor Yvonne Spicer said “social-distancing” is smart to do.

Mayor Spicer said the City is not closing anything on the municipal side.

Parents are responsible to make sure students who are quarantined remain quarantined, said Framingham Public Schools health director Judy Styer.

Styer said the risk of getting coronavirus in Framingham is still low.

Tremblay said as a whole the Massachusetts Department of Education has not given a blessing for online learning.

Tremblay said there is enough technology for 1-1 Chromebooks, but this is an opportunity as a community to really innovative here.

Been working with teachers to have this virtual environment to occur, if need be, said Tremblay.

Virtual learning is evolving, and the district is having multiple conversations about this, but at this time, we dont have a structure in place to meet every student’s needs, said Tremblay.

Mayor Spicer said if employees are sick, they are asked to stay home. She said the Treasurer’s office in the Memorial Building is using gloves.

The state has cancelled several public meetings, said the Mayor, but the City has not. Mayor Spicer said she is reviewing this hour by hour.

Tremblay said there has not been a lot of guidance on what to do, and he has been pressing for consistency of guidance on what to do as coronavirus issues arise.