Olympia School District to close all schools starting Monday
Update: All school districts in Thurston County have agreed to close schools starting Monday until April 24. See more information on that decision here. Olympia SD has also shared more information specific to its closure on its website.
Olympia School District will close all schools beginning Monday and until further notice, according to a Facebook post from the district Thursday night. Pioneer Elementary School will also close Friday, because someone connected to the school tested presumptive positive for COVID-19, Superintendent Patrick Murphy wrote in a message to parents.
The district was already limiting large gatherings and travel in an effort to slow the spread of COVID-19, the illness caused by a novel coronavirus, following an announcement Wednesday.
Earlier Thursday, Gov. Jay Inslee announced mandatory six-week closures for King, Snohomish, and Pierce counties; Thurston County commissioners voted unanimously to declare COVID-19 a local emergency; and Thurston County Board of Health passed a resolution banning gatherings of 250 people or more.
Murphy did not give details on the person who had connections to the Olympia elementary school and tested presumptive positive in his message to parents, and The Olympian could not reach school district representatives Thursday night for comment.
A presumptive positive case is a test that comes back positive and is pending confirmation at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, according to the Washington Department of Health.
“... we have reason to believe that an individual who has connections to Pioneer Elementary School has tested presumptive positive for COVID-19,” the message reads. “While the results of the test have not been confirmed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), out of an abundance of caution we are closing Pioneer Elementary School tomorrow, Friday, March 13.”
In his message to families, Murphy wrote that the district is encouraging students to take home personal belongings Friday that they could need in the case of an extended closure and asking parents to pick up any medication their child has in the school’s health room.
OSD is “reviewing creative ways to continue some services for students while at home,” Murphy wrote, and already has a plan to make meals available to all students in its district.
This story was originally published March 12, 2020 at 11:25 PM.
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