At a special meeting on January 5 attended online by more than 250 residents, administrators, and teachers, the School Committee discussed the idea of having part of the Lincoln School go fully remote for two weeks but decided to stay the course. However, the panel will update and expand the criteria for determining if or when schools should switch to remote learning, and they’ll also look into the possibility of testing for faculty and students.

At virtual meetings on January 2 and 4 with school administrators (one of which also included Public Health Nurse Tricia McGean), teachers expressed concern about the rising number of Covid-19 cases in Lincoln seen after the Thanksgiving break.

The Lincoln School’s Smith building (grades K-4) had eight students and five staff members test positive in December, compared to just one each in the preschool, Brooks (grades 5-8), and the two Hanscom schools. Half of the 14 cases were reported after the winter recess began just before Christmas, according to Superintendent of Schools Becky McFall. Follow-up found that most of the positive cases were contracted at home, but a few infection sources are unknown.

“What we are really seeing is household spread. Once it gets into a household, [the virus] is pretty rampant and goes right through a family,” said McGean, adding that over 50% of Lincoln’s cases have been asymptomatic.

Given the numbers, Smith teachers asked for their grades go fully remote for two weeks to try to control the rate of increase. Several other Massachusetts school districts reverted to remote-only learning this week after seeing cases go up in their towns and statewide. Cambridge and Lexington have moved from a hybrid model to remote until January 11 and January 19, respectively, and Weston High School has gone to fully remote for an unspecified period, according to Superintendent of Schools Becky McFall.

Kim Mack, the METCO representative to the School Committee, said the school (or at least the Smith portion) should have begun January remotely. “Are we going to wait until, God forbid, someone dies of Covid in the [school] community? When are we going to be more proactive about how we approach these decisions?” she said.

Teacher Colleen Pearce said that while school’s safety measures and isolation protocols for symptomatic students have worked thus far, “it’s now a different environment than it was in September.” More people are testing positive with no symptoms, and if the December cases had all occurred when school was in session, there would have been substantially more spread, she added.

“The stress of what you continue to ask even as circumstances change needs to be considered,” Pearce said, adding that 92% of Smith said they wanted to go remote for two weeks at the start of this term.

“I’ve been struggling with this as well. I see the headlines on contagion and the new [virus] variant, and just speaking for myself, they’re scary,” said committee member Peter Borden. “How do you balance fear with a rational point of view and the evidence we have in front of us?”

“For me the data, still support” continuing to offer full-time in-school instruction, said committee member Trintje Gnazzo. “What causes me to pause more is grappling with the cost of putting faculty into the building day after day.” Teachers were exhausted heading into the winter break, “and I really worry about the toll this is taking on our faculty. These guys are on the front lines.”

“It’s in the best interests of the kids to keep the schools open,” committee member Adam Hogue said. “We’re looking at the data every single day, and we can pull the trigger pretty quickly” if certain criteria are met and the schools need to close.

“I trust [McFall and McGean] and the numbers still seem OK to me, but I certainly think it’s a good idea to have a meeting like his and review the protocol and the factors that would cause us to change course. It’s really benefiting the kids to be in school.

“I grapple with the same things everyone is grappling with,” committee chair Tara Mitchell said while noting that having the school open is very important to parents and children. “Going remote brings tears to people’s eyes — they just feel they would crumble.”

The infection rate may rise at the same rate even if the school were to go fully remote because many students would likely wind up in child care and playdate situations that are less safe than those a school, some noted. Once the doors close, “I fear that we won’t come back,” McFall said.

Regular Covid-19 testing of the school population would be quite expensive and would also involve town procurement laws requiring bids. “I don’t want people to get the expectation this is something we could put in place next week,”Administrator for Business and Finance Buck Creel said.

Mitchell asked McGean if she would recommend a period of remote learning, given the expected post-holiday winter spike in positive Covid-19 tests.

“Is it enough to close the school? I don’t have that Magic 8-ball,” McGean replied.

“None of us wants to be the one that makes a decision that brings harm to anyone,” said an emotional McFall.