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Permit #15 Williston,VT 05495 POSTAL CUSTOMER
OCTOBER 15, 2020
Contact-tracing begins after positive virus case at school with phone calls to anyone who may have been in close contact with the person who tested posThe expected has happened: itive. Contact tracing was due to Someone in Williston’s schools be complete by the first half of this has tested positive for the corona- week. “If you have not been contactvirus. The Champlain Valley School ed, it is because your child is not a close contact,” District was one Pinckney of five districts wrote. in the state that Willishad to notify ton schools its communiopened the ty of a positive school year test last week. with a hybrid According to schedule, with Superintendent half the stuElaine Pinckney, dent body in the person who school two tested positive days a week has not been in– Vermont Health Commissioner and the other side Williston Mark Levine half in school schools since a different two Oct. 2. Notificadays — keeption to families ing school buildings at half capacicame Sunday. ty to maintain recommended phys“We only learned late Saturday evening that we had a positive ical distance. Students are learning case,” Pinckney said Monday in remotely during the three days a an email to the Observer. “We week they are not in school. Last Monday, the school district worked for several hours with the pivoted to allow kindergarteners Vermont Department of Health into school buildings full time and team late Sunday afternoon … We sent out letters as soon as we were is working toward doing the same for grades 1-4. The positive coroable.” She said she couldn’t speak to navirus case has not derailed those when the positive test result oc- plans, Pinckney said. “We will continue to carefully curred, but that the Oct. 2 date establishes a timeline for quarantin- monitor our success in bringing more students back, and would not ing any close contacts. “Due to medical privacy laws, hesitate to push the pause button we can not provide any addition- if there were any reason to do so,” al information about this case,” she said. “The health and safety of she wrote in the notification letter. our students and our faculty and “We ask our community for com- staff is job one.” A portion of the district’s notipassion and understanding for all fication letter to families echoed who may be impacted by this viword-for-word the notification rus.” sent to Essex families, suggesting On Tuesday, Vermont Health it was prepared by state officials Commissioner Mark Levine said in anticipation of positive corohis department is investigating navirus cases in schools: “While positive cases tied to five schools we certainly hoped that we would in the state. He noted that trans- remain COVID-free, we expected mission of the virus did not hap- this eventuality and we are prepen inside the schools in any of the pared with a plan to respond to cases. it. Our team (has) met with the “The school-associated cases Vermont Department of Health to are among people who have been plan our response. We are confiexposed to the virus in the com- dent that we’ve shared all critical munity, outside of school,” Levine information with the Vermont Department of Health and that they said. The health department investi- are poised to follow up with all gation in Williston began Monday potentially close contacts.” By Jason Starr Observer staff
‘The schoolassociated cases are among people who have been exposed to the virus in the community, outside of school.’
Observer photo by Brooke McKeen, Community News Service
Tom Radford’s dog, Kayleigh, makes her way through the Thin Blue Line wilderness agility course in Williston last Saturday.
Canine agility course opens in Williston EDITOR’S NOTE: This article is by Brooke McKeen, a reporter with the Community News Service, a collaboration with the University of Vermont’s Reporting & Documentary Storytelling program. On Saturday, dogs and their owners came to test out a new wilderness agility course at Thin Blue Line K-9, a dog obedience training center in Williston. Tom Radford, head trainer and owner, started the business three years ago after he retired from the Burlington Police Department, where he worked as a K-9 officer for nine years. Through his business, Radford trains all dog breeds at all ages to correct a wide range of behavioral issues. Radford and his team — his wife, two employees and numerous volunteers — have been building the wilderness agility course for about two years, and Saturday was the first day that the course was open to the public. Radford has already had many inquiries about the course. Monthly memberships are now available. “The maintenance of the course is a lot of work, but it’s a big draw,
so we want to keep it open year round,” Radford said. “The longterm goal is to have more and more people using this, and then we can keep building onto it and expanding.” About seven months ago, Radford took on the training of Duke, a black Labrador puppy. Duke became the first police therapy dog in Vermont and has since started his therapy training and deployments with the Williston Police Department. Duke was donated to the Williston Police Department by his breeders, Boonefield Labradors, said his handler, Officer Matt Cohen. Radford has donated his services to the Williston police, training Duke from his first few weeks to his future as a working police therapy dog. ‘’A lot of our training up to this point, because of his age, has been confidence building and obedience,” Cohen said. “These are all things that he will need to be successful as a therapy dog.” Mental health is often neglected in policing, Cohen added, and having Duke with the Williston police is creating a new way to bridge the
gap between policing and mental health care and support. “His job and my job is to bring mental health support to critical incidents or emergency response incidents where other forms of mental health support are not typically available,” Cohen said. “He’s like an ambulance for mental health. We’re going to get there first, we’re going to be there, and we’re going to provide that support as needed.” Even though the police therapy dog program is very new, Duke’s position has already proven useful and necessary. “We’ve had a ton of deployments. In the time that he’s been here, which has really only been like three or four months, we’ve already had a little over 100 deployments,” Cohen said. “We have these outreach areas where we’re going to help build a better rapport between police and our community, which has been a really great tool for us,” he continued. “Being a handler, it’s been really great to see these interactions with Duke and how people change their interactions with policing through him.”