16 | SEPTEMBER 10 • 2020 

Jews in the D

DANNY SCHWARTZ STAFF WRITER

Hillel Opens 
Its Doors After 
COVID Scare

One staffer tested positive last week and 
is quarantining at home.

H

illel Day School wel-
comed students back 
for in-person classes 
on Wednesday, Sept. 2, three 
days after sending a letter 
notifying parents that one of 
its staff had tested positive for 
COVID-19.
In a pair of letters to fam-
ilies last week, Dr. Darin S. 
Katz, head of school at Hillel, 
said the school had been 
made aware that one Hillel 
staff member (referred to 
as Staff #1) had been diag-
nosed with COVID-19 and 
that another staff member 
(referred to as Staff #2) had 
symptoms consistent with 
COVID-19, but ultimately 
tested negative for the virus.
The first letter, sent 
Sunday, Aug. 30, stated that 
both cases were presumed 
to be unrelated to each 
other, that the cases were 
presumed to not have been 
contracted at school and that 
both individuals previous-
ly tested negative when all 
staff members were tested 
at Hillel on Tuesday, Aug. 
18. A follow-up letter sent 
Monday, Aug. 31, stated that 
Staff #2, who had previously 
tested negative on a rapid 
COVID test, had also tested 
negative on a molecular nasal 
PCR test, and that the school 
would indeed begin in-per-

son learning on Wednesday, 
Sept. 2, as scheduled.
Staff #1, who was in the 
building on Tuesday, Aug. 25, 
was said to have maintained 
a six-foot distance from other 
staff members, was masked 
inside the building and pre-
sumed to have had no contact 
with students or parents at that 
day’
s Meet and Greets.
“Per our school protocols, 
school nurse Gail Chynoweth 
conducted extensive contact 
tracing for this staff member, 
and also contacted the Oakland 
County Health Division,” the 
letter stated.
Six teachers who span all 
across the Hillel K-8 commu-
nities were known or presumed 
to have come into contact with 
Staff #2 for more than 15 min-
utes. Dr. Katz’
s second letter 
said that the Oakland County 
Health Division had confirmed 
these six staff members no lon-
ger needed to quarantine after 
the negative COVID test results 
were revealed.
All Hillel students have a 
choice between an in-person 
and flexible learning model, 
which allows any student who 
wants to learn from home to 
do so.
Hillel also reiterated that 
Staff #1, who tested positive 
for COVID-19, has been out of 
the building since the previous 

Wednesday. “We have no con-
cerns of exposure following our 
extensive contact tracing and 
confirmation from the Oakland 
County Health Department. 
This staff member continues 
to convalesce at home and we 
wish this staff member a full 
recovery,” the letter said.
“The health and safety of 
our entire community is para-
mount every year, and especial-
ly this year,” Dr. Katz wrote in a 
statement to the JN on Tuesday. 
“We are grateful that our staff 
member is feeling better and 
are excited to welcome students 
to school tomorrow. We are 
going to have a great year!”

FAMILIES DECIDE
Glen Schwartz, parent of a 
Hillel 1st- and 4th-grader 
who are both using the virtual 
flexible learning model, has 
been following the school’
s 
updates and thinks everyone 
has the best intentions in 
mind.
“I thought Hillel did a great 
job of communicating what 
was going on,” Schwartz said. 
“It was certainly disappoint-
ing to hear that someone had 
tested positive, not because of 
what Hillel had been doing, 
but just in general. Obviously, 
that’
s scary for everybody, but 
I thought it was handled well.” 
Schwartz is electing to keep 

his kids virtual learning at 
home because he said there are 
immunocompromised individ-
uals in his family.
“
At the end of the day, my 
wife’
s family is older, so we 
were concerned there, and on 
my side of the family I’
ve got 
someone that’
s immunocom-
promised,” Schwartz said.
“For us, it just made more 
sense to keep them home, 
thinking that if they went to 
school — not even considering 
that it would be unsafe, just 
that in the event something 
did happen or even didn’
t for 
that matter — we wouldn’
t be 
able to be around those family 
members as a precautionary 
measure. We didn’
t want to do 
that, so we made the decision 
to keep them out.
“This is just such an 
unknown, and I think people 
are trying to deal with the 
cards that they’
ve been dealt, 
and frankly not be politi-
cal about it on either side,” 
Schwartz continued. “I don’
t 
think anyone is wrong for the 
way they feel, and I don’
t know 
that there’
s a solution that’
s 
right or wrong.
“I don’
t think anyone is not 
putting the kids interests at 
heart or not putting the par-
ents’
 interests at heart, I just 
think everyone’
s trying to do 
the best they can.” 

Hillel Day School

HILLEL

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