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Dear St. Margaret’s Upper and Middle School Parents,
Late this evening, Thursday, November, 12, we learned that a St. Margaret’s family with multiple children in the school, grades 11, 8 and 4, had multiple positive COVID-19 tests confirmed in their family this evening. Their students were last on campus today.
Due to the timing this evening of the notification to the school and that Orange County Health Care Agency is already closed for the day, we are keeping the entire Upper School and Middle School student body, home from campus tomorrow, Friday, November 13. We are also keeping home the grade 4 cohort as well as additional students or adults who could be a potential close contact. Upper School and Middle School students should attend classes via the Concurrent Learning model tomorrow.
We are taking this step out of an abundance of caution until we can ensure coordination with Orange County Health Care Agency and can thoroughly complete the contact tracing process of potential close contacts defined by the CDC. We anticipate being able to notify close contacts of the positive case of their potential exposure by end of day tomorrow and reopen campus to most of these students on Monday. Please note that we have already determined this case is not related to the positive case in grade 9 we reported last week.
Importantly, we ask your child to remain home and limit contact with others until we can determine if they are a close contact to a positive case. Close contacts will be required to immediately quarantine according to CDC guidelines and will be supported by the Concurrent Learning model.
We recognize that this news is concerning. Please be assured our team is adhering to and implementing all school health and safety protocols and procedures related to a positive case identification and campus preventative virus risk mitigation as outlined in the Every Tartan, Every Day plan. Further, the impacted campus facilities have been appropriately cleaned and sanitized. We will communicate with you about this positive case again as soon as possible.
The safety and health of our school community remains our highest priority and we will always err on the side of caution. We continue to monitor community health and to follow and assess all proactive virus risk mitigation measures on campus. We appreciate your understanding, cooperation and support through these efforts. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact our Health Center team or our Upper School or Middle School office.

Sincerely,
Jeneen Graham and Jeannine Clarke
Upper School Principal and Middle School Principal