Forest Hills Public Schools issued the following announcement on Dec 30.
As we prepare to welcome in 2022, I want to share with you our plans to limit the spread of COVID-19 in our schools. With the rapid rise of the new omicron variant, health officials warn of the extremely high rate of spread among people not recently vaccinated or boosted. Our goal is to keep students and staff safe and healthy and operate our schools with full levels of staffing for daily, in-person learning.
With school resuming January 3, 2022, we do not yet know how the omicron variant will impact school environments. Our previous mitigation measures have been effective at minimizing the spread of COVID-19 within schools. As we begin this new semester with a new COVID variant circulating, we believe it is important to continue the mitigation measures we were using in December. This will allow time to learn how the omicron variant impacts school environments and also allows additional time for students choosing to be fully vaccinated.
>The following mitigation measures will be in place for the start of our new semester in January:
>K-6 students, staff, and visitors will continue to wear masks inside schools through January 21, 2022. Mask waivers from the fall semester will be honored.
>All individuals traveling on a school bus must wear a mask as required by federal mass transportation rules.
>Visitors to buildings will continue to be limited through January 21, 2022.
>We urge all 7-12 students to wear a mask, regardless of vaccination status, until more can be learned about how omicron impacts school environments.
>All students and staff members testing positive for COVID-19 must isolate and not attend work or school as required by current public health orders. Revised orders reduce the timeframe for isolation, if symptoms subside, to five days.
>As required by public health orders, schools will continue to notify families of positive cases among students and we will reach out to specific families if their child is deemed a close contact to someone who has tested positive for COVID-19.
>Ventilation systems will continue to operate at higher levels of air exchange.
>The Forest Hills Fine Arts Center will continue to serve as a COVID-19 PCR testing facility operated through the Kent County Health Department and Arctic Laboratories.
Experience shows that higher numbers of cases circulate immediately following holiday breaks. With families enjoying time together over break, continuing mitigation strategies for the next few weeks will allow any new cases to run their course while students stay protected. We want all kids to attend school daily and enjoy a healthy start to 2022. These mitigation measures will also help us keep our staff members healthy. Finally, by all of us following universal mitigation measures and getting vaccinated and boosted, when eligible, we are helping the heroes working in our hospitals and health care facilities.
Please see the new infographic from the Kent County Health Department outlining the revised timelines for isolation and quarantine. You can expect additional updates as we learn more about the impact of omicron on school environments. Thank you for your continued support of our students and our schools!
With appreciation,
Dan Behm
Superintendent
Original source can be found here.
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