Principal's Update: Jan 7

Dear Parents of our K1 students,

We have received an update today on your child’s classmates’ PCR COVID test that was done on Tuesday, January 5th. The result today is positive for COVID 19.

The student’s household contact did not feel ill until Monday afternoon and was tested Monday evening. The classmate did not come to school on Monday morning either feeling ill or with a household contact awaiting a test result. We have reassured the student’s family that we are all doing the best we can during a pandemic, monitoring ourselves and our family members for symptoms, and acting responsibly with testing and notifying others when we recognize a need for that.

All classes are cohorted this year to maintain safety and allow the least disruption to the overall school when making adjustments for the health of our SPS community.  Teachers and students wear masks and students sit at desks that have clear plastic barriers.  Desks are approximately 4.5 feet apart.  Children stay in the classroom except for recess where they are cohorted on the playground. Frequent hand hygiene is done throughout the day and windows are left open to accommodate the recommendation for increased ventilation balanced with temperature safety in the classroom. The classroom is equipped with a Hepa Air Purifier filter system.  All high touch surfaces are cleaned throughout the day. These are some of the many transmission mitigation strategies we have in place.

The recommended quarantine period after “close contact with a known positive case” is 14 days. A close contact is defined as being within 6 feet for more than 15 minutes in a 24-hour period. For any classroom exposure, all members of the class including the teacher are considered close contacts as they are together for more than 6 hours a day.

 K1 will remain on remote learning through our half day next Friday, January 15th. If any of your children or household contacts develop symptoms of COVID-19 during that time, please contact your health care provider and let them know of the “close contact with a known positive case” that occurred in the classroom on Monday, January 4, 2021. Please also let our school nurse know if this happens. If any member of a family is testing for reasons of Covid-19 symptoms or close contact, all family members should stay home in quarantine while awaiting the results.

The virus is not transmitted from a “contact of a contact”. Those families that have siblings in our school may send them to school unless testing is in progress as noted or any member of the household tests positive. Testing is not recommended until 5 days past exposure.

Please reach out to our school nurse, Tish Palumbo, with any questions. Her email is [email protected] or please leave a contact number if you would like a call back directly.

God Bless,

Kim Clauss