In a letter to parents, the East Islip superintendent of schools says that the middle school will be closed until Dec. 1, 2020 due to six confirmed cases of COVID-19 among teachers and other support staff.

According to the letter, the cases are among staff members at East Islip Middle School. Classes will be fully remote until Dec. 1. The superintendent says all of the pertinent information has been sent to the Suffolk County Department of Health, and contract tracing is underway.

Officials are still looking into if there was an event of some sort where they may have been all together or if they contracted the virus in the school.

The Suffolk County Department of Health Services says it has opened an investigation into the cluster of cases and asked that anyone who tested positive for COVID-19 cooperate with investigators.

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A spokesperson for the Department of Health Services said, "Employers who are aware of more than one case should contact the department as soon as possible if more than one employee has tested positive. The East Islip School District administration was right to contact us as soon as they learned that there were positive cases in the school district. Further information about this particular cluster is not available at this time."

A district spokesperson says staff who were not in contact with those infected will return to the building Nov. 16.  Everyone else will return Dec. 1.

Thursday's Board of Education meeting will be virtual only. The superintendent says there will be a discussion about possibly postponing the previous plan to bring back all secondary students on Dec. 1.