ROCHESTER — Old Colony Vocational Technical High School announced in a letter dated March 13 that school will be closed for the week of March 16 to prevent the spread of coronavirus. 

Old Colony will provide a status update to the school community next Friday, March 20 on next steps for the school. 

In a letter posted to the school’s website, Superintendent-Director Aaron Polansky said he made the decision in partnership with the Rochester Board of Health and Town of Rochester.

All afterschool activities scheduled to take place during the week have been canceled. These include a Madden Tournament and Winter Sports awards. 

Polansky said that the Old Colony Central Office will stay open and that essential personnel may be called to work during the week. 

The superintendent-director said that the days will be made up in the same fashion of snow days, but that the school year will end no later than June 19. 

On March 12, the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association postponed the start of all spring sports to March 30. 

Polansky said “our hope is that if we all work together, we can reduce the speed of the virus, protect our most vulnerable, and resume normal activities in a week or two.”

At this time, there are no cases of coronavirus in the Tri-Town.

To view the full text of Polansky’s letter, see the attachment above.