RUMFORD — Hartford-Sumner Elementary School in Regional School Unit 10 will shift to fully virtual learning for a week after a person associated with the school tested positive for COVID-19, district officials announced Tuesday.

Superintendent Deb Alden also confirmed Tuesday that six staff members at HSES will quarantine through Jan. 18, “and they are positions that we are not able to replace at this time.”

Alden said the positive COVID-19 case is not HSES Principal Ryan Wilkins, who “is out on medical leave for an unrelated health issue, NOT COVID.”

At the district’s board of directors meeting Monday, Alden said Mountain Valley Middle School in Mexico has reverted to fully virtual learning this week after three positive cases of COVID-19 at the school.

The middle school will remain under fully remote learning for two weeks, in accordance with the district’s protocol for three or more positive coronavirus cases within its buildings.

Last Friday, students of Mountain Valley High School in Rumford were notified they would be switching to fully remote learning this week because “around eight” staff members were quarantining, according to Alden.

“We’re extremely lucky on several areas,” Alden said. “None of the (student) cases so far had gone on the bus. That’s a biggie for us. That really is helpful, and none of those (positive) cases came from being exposed within the school.

“Exposures are happening in the community or somewhere out there, and most times when we have people quarantined in the school, it’s because people have been near somebody in the school. We haven’t had any positive cases come from that.”

Other schools in the district include Buckfield Junior-Senior High School, Meroby Elementary School in Mexico, Rumford Elementary School and the Western Foothills Regional Program in Rumford, which are currently in session with in-person and remote learning available for students.

In other matters, the board voted to offer Assistant Superintendent Leanne Condon a two-year contract, from July 1, 2021, to June 30, 2023.

According to her contract, Condon’s salary is $102,588, with benefits that include health insurance and 25 vacation days

mhutchinson@sunmediagroup.net