WAITS RIVER—Classes at Waits River Valley School resumed last week after a post-holiday surge Covid and other illnesses prompted closures at all Orange East Supervisory Union schools.
At a school board meeting, held via Zoom, on Jan. 13, WRVS Principal Carlotta Simonds-Perantoni said that between Jan. 5 and 12, there were 14 students and six staff members that tested positive with 15 additional people quarantining. There were also six cases that were community-based, which means they were not caught at school.

MONTPELIER—State Rep. Topper McFaun, R-Barre, has introduced a bill that would open an emergency juvenile correctional facility in Windsor.
The bill would set aside $3 million in existing Vermont Department of Children and Families funding in order to operate the temporary facility, which would consist of 10 beds at the former Southeast State Correctional Facility. The Windsor facility would house up to 10 adolescent boys who are involved with the Vermont juvenile justice system.

BRADFORD—In the mid-1980s, an 18-acre parcel in Bradford Center near the Waits River, was donated to the Green Mountain Council of the Boy Scouts of America by longtime Bradford resident, Charles A. Kenyon.
The land has been used by local Scouts for nearly 40 years, but could be sold to help the national organization satisfy its creditors after declaring bankruptcy in 2020 amidst a deluge of lawsuits related to alleged sexual abuse.

BRADFORD—COVID-19 and a labor crunch have dashed plans to resurrect a full-time summer camp in 2022.
At a meeting on Dec. 21, Bradford Selectboard members instead agreed to a concept proposed by the Bradford Parks and Recreation Commission to hold short-term programming and a series of clinics rather than a full-time camp next summer.

MONTPELIER—Vermont officials said in a Dec. 28 press conference that the state expects an increase in COVID-19 cases due to holiday gatherings and the omicron variant.
The omicron variant, a relatively new mutation of the coronavirus, was first identified in South Africa in November, and is more contagious than previous variants. It has already been detected in Vermont.