By Linda Conner Lambeck & Jarret Liotta

WESTPORT – Was it a large public gathering, a band of unmasked kids at a bus stop, or the unmasked interaction of students at recess that was responsible for a bump in COVID cases at Saugatuck Elementary School this week?

Local school and health officials aren’t sure, but several SES parents expressed concern to the Board of Education Monday night about how what has been deemed an outbreak is being handled.

“Our son tested positive at Saugatuck,” parent Greg Downes said.

Student Asymptomatic

“Our son was asymptomatic,” he said. “His temperature was 99. He was in school on Friday. He checked himself in to the nurse. The nurse sent him back to class.”

Parents were not pointing fingers at the school district, but they urged school officials to rethink their current protocols with regard to testing and confirming that COVID was not present.

“Most of these kids are asymptomatic,” Downes said.

Parent Amy Hererra said she was grateful for how the school was handling the situation, but expressed concern about the lack of communication from town officials.

“I was very concerned by the lack of communication by the town leadership,” she said, with other organizations — including The Westport Library — left out of the loop with regard to the outbreak.

Lack of Communication from Town

That organization, Hererra said, which had an event specifically scheduled for SES families over the weekend, had to learn from a parent about the outbreak and then immediately canceled its program.

“There seemed to be a hesitation to share any information while an investigation was ongoing,” Hererra said, adding it seemed “irresponsible to not make the larger community aware of the outbreak as soon as the state designated it as an outbreak.”

Supt. of School Thomas Scarice said he had informed the town’s Emergency Operations Center about the matter, but could not speak to what happened afterward.

Assistant Superintendent John Bayers, a member of the EOC, said he would bring the concerns to their attention.

Unexpected Bump in Cases

Suzanne Levasseur, supervisor of health services for Westport Public Schools, said COVID cases were going down town-wide until a bump came to SES last week, with more than 20 new cases identified among staff and students over several days.

Levasseur said it was “quite different from what we have been seeing,” with no common thread and cases found throughout different grade levels and classrooms.

Without a common school thread, officials point to an outside source as the outbreak culprit.

They reached out to the state, which suggested outbreak testing, which was performed last week. Among the 293 staff and students who voluntarily tested, six additional positive cases were identified on Friday.

“I was just floored by how rapidly the state Department of Public Health responded,” Scarice said, noting that the results do not point to in-school transmission.

As such, state health officials advised the district to keep schools open.

Parents Question Keeping SES Open

Some parents at Monday’s school board meeting questioned the move.

Jen Greely, who has three children, including one at SES, asked the district to revisit its mitigation strategies, particularly in light of the more contagious Delta variant.

“I would like some acknowledgment of in-school spread,” said Greely, noting that her daughter had severe medical concerns. “We need to set appropriate guidelines to keep her safe.”

SES recently required students to wear masks through recess — something Greely would like to see continue.

“Reconsider the protocols. They really do need to be reevaluated,” Downes said.

The outbreak, coupled with the second month of school, has the district ramping up its quarantine response by providing more instructional support to students, particularly the youngest ones, who either have or may have been exposed to the virus.

 In some cases, Scarice said quarantines last longer than five days, particularly when multiple members of a family are impacted.

As such, kindergarten and first grade students in quarantine will have two teacher check-ins during the week via computer and virtual tutoring five times a week.

In second through fifth grade, tutoring will increase from 30 minutes, two times a week, to two hours a day.

Ali Moran, elementary school curriculum coordinator, said there will be more structure to the support to make sure there is not a gap when students return to class.

 The board was told the district, at the moment, has enough tutors to handle students in quarantine.