BREAKING: First case of COVID-19 confirmed in PAUSD
March 17, 2020
A student at Ellen Fletcher Middle School has tested positive for COVID-19, marking the first confirmed case of the virus in Palo Alto Unified School District, according to a press release today from the Office of the Superintendent.
The release comes a day after Santa Clara County issued a mandatory shelter-in-place order and adds to the total number of confirmed cases in the county, which according to the Santa Clara County Public Health Department was 155 as of 5 p.m. Monday.
“PAUSD has received our first confirmed case of COVID-19 involving a student from Fletcher Middle School,” the release stated. “County health officials have signaled that we should expect the virus to continue spreading for a period of time across Santa Clara County.”
The release goes on to affirm that the district will continue to notify all staff and families of any confirmed COVID-19 cases in the district.
Guidelines to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 are also included in the release. Among these are recommendations to stay away from hospitals unless absolutely necessary, avoid people who are ill, and follow CDC and previous district guidelines. A full list of these recommendations, along with the full email, can be found here.
![Shounak Dharap, president of the school board of Palo Alto Unified School District, announced Friday morning that Superintendent Don Austin separated from his superintendent position at PAUSD. Corbin Dodd, an Ethnic Studies and AP Seminar teacher at Palo Alto High School, said that Austin's separation from the district surprised him and his colleagues. "Negotiations are happening right now, so there's a lot of talk about the school board and the superintendent, but it [Austin's separation] wasn't on my radar, and I don't think it was on the radar of any of the teachers I've spoken to," Dodd said.](https://palyvoice.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/IMG_7950-300x225.png)
