GUILDERLAND — With two more cases of coronavirus confirmed in Albany County today — one of them a student at Farnsworth Middle School — the Guilderland schools superintendent announced this evening that Farnsworth Middle School will remain closed through March 27.

Guilderland’s five elementary schools and its high school will be closed for one week instead of two, March 16 to 20, unless health officials determine they should close for longer, said Superintendent Marie Wiles.

Three other neighboring Albany County school districts — Bethlehem, Voorheesville, and Berne-Knox-Westerlo — also announced today that their schools, too, will close for the week of March 16 to 20.

All three of those districts used similar language in posts on their websites, explaining that the closures were out of an “abundance of caution” and that there had been no positive results for COVID-19 at Bethlehem, Voorheesville, or Berne-Knox-Westerlo.

Voorheesville’s superintendent, Frank Macri, told The Enterprise yesterday that area superintendents had all been guided by the Capital Region Board of Cooperative Educational Services and would likely be using the same language in informing residents about the coronavirus.

Guilderland had closed its schools today after receiving word from the Albany County Department of Health that “an individual at Farnsworth had tested positive,” said Wiles. She got the call at 4 a.m. today.

[Check in with the latest Coronavirus coverage]

Albany County Executive Daniel McCoy had held a press conference on Thursday morning to announce the county’s first two confirmed cases of COVID-19. One is a student in his early 20s, living in Albany and attending classes at the University at Albany. UAlbany, like state universities across New York, has been closed as students are now to do their work remotely.

The second case announced on Thursday was a Guilderland woman in her 30s connected to Farnsworth Middle School. McCoy announced on Twitter today that the two new cases were connected to the Guilderland woman.

“If someone tests positive,” Wiles told The Enterprise, “a school is required to close for 24 hours.”

Guilderland closed all seven of its schools today. “We closed everything because the buses get used for multiple buildings,” Wiles said.

Wiles was on the phone several times today with the county’s health department, she said. “They asked us to gather a lot of information on possible contacts,” she said. This included class schedules, lunch schedules, sports activities, clubs, bus routes, and more.

“We sent them a monster file,” Wiles said. 

The health department now has the herculean task of trying to figure out people the student who tested positive may have come in contact with. “They call it mapping and tracing,” said Wiles.

Wiles talked with the county’s health commissioner, Elizabeth Whalen, later in the day, she said “to determine next steps.”

“Her recommendation was to close Farnsworth for the next two weeks. We just sent that message out to families,” Wiles said on Friday evening. The same message is posted on the district’s website.

“I got the message out as soon as I got off the phone with the commissioner,” she said, hoping that the weekend will give families time to plan for having children home for the next week or two.

Wiles said the week-long closures at the high school and the five elementary schools will be re-assed mid-week. “We’ll have to see if we get more positive tests,” she said.

Wiles went on, “We don’t want kids out of school. It’s a hardship on families.”

Asked about provisions for students who receive free or reduced-price lunches, Wiles praised the work of the district’s food-services director, Megan Beck. “She’s amazing. She’s pulled together a breakfast and lunch program where families can pick up the food at the middle school and high school,”said Wiles.

The grab-and-go meals will be available to any student, Wiles said, not just those in the free and reduced-price lunch programs.

Wiles stressed that the meals must be retrieved outside of the school buildings. Inside, deep cleaning will be underway.

The cleaning is being done by district staff under the guidance of the health department.

“We actually borrowed misters from a neighboring school district,” said Wiles, explaining that the misters spray disinfectant in such a way that it can reach “nooks and crannies” such as hard-to-get-to places on school buses.

The Superintendent’s Conference Day that had been scheduled for Monday to help teachers learn how to teach remotely has been cancelled.

“The only people in the buildings will be essential staff,” said Wiles. This includes maintenance workers, mechanics, and some of the district office staff.

Even with the conference-day cancellation, Wiles is hopeful that learning will still take place at home for the next week or, in the case of Farnsworth students, for the next two weeks.

“We have put together a huge resource for teachers — a website with a lot of linked materials,” Wiles said. “They can use it to put together learning opportunities.”

She went on, “It will not replace what would happen in a regular school day. But there will be reading and activities so they are not intellectually idle.”

Wiles noted it will be difficult in households where both parents are working outside the home. “We thought about daycare. Do we recommend? … In the end, we couldn’t. It’s just short-term day care.”

She noted some older students may be managing on their own. Both Wiles and her husband, who directs the Guilderland Public Library, will be at work.

“I let my own seventh-grader be on his own, God help me,” said Wiles.

She concluded, “This is unprecedented to have long-term closures during the school year. It’s uncharted territory for the whole community.”

She advised, “We need to be patient and work together, to put the health and safety of students ahead of everything else.

“It’s inconvenient. But it’s one of those life circumstances where, if we pull together, we’ll succeed. We’ll learn new things.”