Abbotsford’s Centennial Park Elementary School has closed early due to concerns related to COVID-19.
Kevin Godden, the Superintendent of Schools for the Abbotsford School District, confirmed the district’s decision to “functionally close” the school several days before the scheduled spring break, which begins on March 15.
The decision to close was made on Tuesday (March 9).
Godden explained the decision was due to a number of cohorts at Centennial being isolated due to COVID-19 exposures. One parent who reached out to The News stated that the school had sent out four different exposure letters in the past two weeks.
Godden went on to explain that the district did consult with Fraser Health, who could not determine if the cases they were seeing were the result of in-school transmissions. Concerns from parents related to the exposures led to low attendance on Tuesday, leading to the functional closure.
According to the Fraser Health school exposures dashboard, Centennial reported recent exposures on Feb. 23 and 24, and March 1 and 2.
Centennial students will now pivot to online learning until spring break begins. Godden indicated that the plan would then be for the school to reopen following spring break on March 29.
The discussion occurred during Tuesday’s school board meeting, which can be viewed online below.
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