NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — A member of the Drury High community tested positive for COVID-19 on Friday.

 

Also the Drury girls basketball game was canceled. 

 

Officials declined to say on the record if the positive test affected the game against Hoosac Valley, but the Hoosac team withdrew. Drury Athletic Director David Racette said the game was canceled due to "unforeseen circumstances." iBerkshires had been set up to livestream the game on its sports Facebook page. The game, which was to have been the Hoosac Hurricane's season finale, will not be made up.

 

The boys junior varsity and varsity games were still scheduled to be played Friday night. 

 

Superintendent Barbara Malkas, writing a letter to the school community posted on the district website, said an individual had tested positive after a positive pool result had been reported on Friday. The school has been using pool testing — taking samples from groups such as classes — to alleviate the need for multiple individual testing. 

 

"Following the pooled testing report, all students and staff within the pool were given a rapid results test in order to determine who in the pool was positive," Malkas wrote. "The outcome of the rapid results testing identified one individual as positive for COVID-19. This new case does not require any consideration for grade level or school transition to remote learning."

 

The positive test kicked off the district's protocol in sanitizing the school and informing staff and families whose students were at risk of the exposure or in close contact. 

 

"Though we cannot provide specific information about the individual who tested positive, North Adams Public Schools has implemented our protocols for notification, disinfection, and quarantine for staff and students who may have been exposed," said Malkas. "Parents of students who were in close contact with the individual were notified privately. All close contacts were tested. We are also following all Department of Health protocols, including collaborating with our local board of health to complete contact tracing."

 

Any students who have tested for COVID-19 are asked to report the result to the school nurse. Those students in the pooled testing program who have not been notified of a potential exposure can assume that their result is negative.

 

Just over a week ago, a student in the junior high academy tested positive for the novel coronavirus, pushing Grades 7 and 8 into remote learning for the last half of the week. 

 

The school district entered the state-sponsored pool testing program last month. The protocol allows for pooled testing of groups; if a positive is found in a pooled test, all individuals are given rapid test results to identify the positive(s) and alert any