Pine Bush Elementary third-graders go remote

GUILDERLAND — The school district here, which started surveillance testing for COVID-19 on Jan. 15, announced today that a student at Pine Bush Elementary School had tested positive.

“As a result of this case and the need to quarantine several individuals, Pine Bush has a staffing shortage at the 3rd-grade level,” Superintendent Marie Wiles wrote in an email to district families on Thursday evening.

Consequently, all Pine Bush third-graders will move to remote-only learning on Friday, Jan. 22, through Friday, Jan. 29. Third-grade students and staff will return for in-person instruction on Monday, Feb. 1. 

Wiles also announced three other new COVID-19 cases — two at Guilderland High School and one at Farnsworth Middle School.

According to the state’s COVID-19 Report Card, as of Thursday evening, Guilderland has had 121 confirmed cases since the start of the school year: 65 at Guilderland High School (which also includes workers, like bus drivers, not assigned to a building), 22 at Farnsworth Middle School, nine each at Altamont and Westmere elementary schools, seven at Lynnwood Elementary, five at Guilderland Elementary, and four at Pine Bush Elementary School.

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