January 9, 2022
Dear CVSD Families, Caregivers, and Staff,
This letter is part of our effort to keep you informed about COVID-19 and provide updates from the district. CVU families and caregivers - there will be another communication coming from Adam Bunting with specifics for the high school.
Please keep in mind that things continue to change daily, and we are doing our best to streamline communications. The Vermont Agency of Education released new announcements about COVID-19 and schools late on Friday. That news was a precursor to a more official announcements coming this week. Since the announcement does not provide guidance on implementing the changes, we will follow our current processes until we receive communication from either the Vermont Agency of Education or the Vermont Department of Health.
Additionally, you may hear about schools closing in districts near us, around the state, and in other locations around the country. It is our intent to keep our schools open. That being said, there may be circumstances that may cause classrooms, teams/houses, or parts of our schools to close. We keep a close eye on our staffing and the rise in cases in our school communities.
There may be a context that arises where one or more of our schools will have to close a grade level or a cohort. This potential context would occur if the number of faculty and staff assigned to that grade level or cohort could not be covered by available substitutes or available staff from the school, other schools, or the district’s central office. While it is unlikely that CVSD would need to close a school entirely, we would if the number of faculty and staff dropped below the level to ensure that safety and learning systems were viable. In addition, of course, we would provide as much notice as possible to accommodate your child staying home for the period of closure.
Contact Tracing/Exposure Notification
Throughout this pandemic, public health experts have given guidance based on the most current scientific research on this ever-changing virus. Over the past two years, we have gone through many phases where different strategies have been more effective depending on the characteristics of the variant most commonly found at that time. Currently, the Omicron variant is forcing us to, once again, reflect on what is working and what needs to be adjusted. Public health experts have agreed that the contact tracing that we have relied on previously to identify and isolate cases is no longer our most effective strategy. Instead, it’s time that we shift our resources and efforts and understand that the COVID-19 we are seeing today is not the same COVID-19 we saw in March of 2020, and as a result, our response needs to be different. We will continue to rely on the expertise of our public health partners and follow their guidance to keep our schools safe.
We will continue to notify families if their child was exposed to a positive case. Here’s information about what to do if your child tests positive or is identified as having been exposed to a positive case. If you prefer a visual view of that information, see this flowchart.
Test to Stay/Antigen Testing
We will maintain the program we have in place until we have further information. Unvaccinated, asymptomatic students who have been exposed to a positive case in school will still be expected to test (antigen) before returning to school.
Parents/Caregivers:
- If your child tests positive, please connect with your school’s health office to make a plan.
- Have conversations with your child(ren) about wearing masks properly.
- Get your child vaccinated or boosted.
- If your child exhibits ANY symptoms, please keep them home.
We are taking proactive steps to ensure that our schools can stay open. One of those is scheduling additional vaccine clinics at our schools. Please consider getting your child vaccinated or a booster, if eligible.
- January 12 and February 2 - CVU
- January 19 and February 9 - Shelburne Community School (SCS)
- January 26 and February 16 - Williston Central School (WCS)
Families/Caregivers of SCS or WCS students may be interested in having your child vaccinated without a family member or caregiver present. The Department of Health reports that if parents/caregivers sign up via the website, there is a box to check where you provide consent. The site asks the necessary medical screening questions. So while you are welcome to attend the clinic with your child, you do not need to and you don’t need to fill out any forms as long as you’ve used the website to sign up. If registering by phone, please ask them about this possibility.
Again, the Vermont Agency of Education shared some new announcements late on Friday that will impact schools and families. More information will be shared this week. We will diligently review the new information and will share an update with families and caregivers as soon as possible. We thank you for your continued support and for partnering with us in order to keep our schools open and everyone as safe and healthy as possible.
Rene Sanchez, Superintendent
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thank you for leaving a comment on our blog. We don't respond to comments and instead use our blog as a way of sharing our district's story and updates.
If you'd like to leave us a comment, we will see it. However, if you'd like a response, please reach out using the link on the right side of this post that says "Connect Now".
Thank you!