All Staples High School students, as well as all middle schoolers, will go fully remote for Thursday, Nov. 12 and Friday, Nov. 13 due to an influx in COVID-19 cases, leading to a shortage of faculty. 

In an email, Superintendent Dr. Thomas Scarice explained that the closure was necessary as new cases have been reported to the schools and contact tracing needs to be conducted. Additionally, the district is unable to staff classrooms due to the number of quarantined faculty members.  

As of Nov. 11, there were 17 individuals (staff and students) with positive confirmed cases of COVID-19 that were isolating. However, since then there have been 12 newly reported cases in the district, including five new cases at Staples. 

“It’s really scary to think that we might be going back all virtually,” Emma Ashe ’21 said. “But I’m glad that the school is doing their best to prevent the spread of the virus and hopefully let us have some in-person classes still.”

Students are expected to return to school in person on Monday, Nov. 16, even though many students are quarantining for two weeks due to close contact with infected individuals. The last reported number of individuals quarantining was 278, according to the WPS COVID-19 Dashboard. Until Monday, Staples and Bedford Middle School principals will be sending out emails detailing schedules and other information.

In addition to the school closure, all extracurricular activities have been canceled through the weekend, including the girls’ soccer FCIAC championship against Ridgefield, which was scheduled for Thursday.

“I’m really hopeful that we’re still going to have a chance to play,” girls’ soccer captain Charlotte Barnes ’21 said. “We have so much left to prove, especially after having such close games against Ridgefield during the regular season.”