March 10, 2020

Dear Parents,

Please know that we take the safety and welfare of our students very seriously. To that end we have been following the news of COVID-19 since it was initially identified in China. Daily we review reports from the CDC, the local health department and the Ohio Department of Education. Our goal is to balance the risk of exposure with continuity of education for the students at DRSS. At this time we want to take a moment to reinforce preventative safety measures and reference our process and communications.

As a school district, we will continue to closely monitor the situation and take guidance from health and emergency management professionals at the local, state and national level. Important school updates will be communicated to parents and students through email, One Call Now and Schoology.

We encourage our students, staff and families to be mindful of key preventative measures for avoiding the spread of this, and other illnesses, as outlined on the CDC website, which include:

  • Wash your hands regularly, especially after using the restroom and before preparing or consuming food. Using soap and hot water, wash for about 20 seconds. Be sure to also wash your fingertips.
  • Avoid coughing or sneezing into your hands or in the air. Always try to cough or sneeze into a tissue, and then throw the tissue away. If you don’t have a tissue, cough/sneeze into your arm (elbow area).
  • As much as you can, avoid touching your eyes, mouth and nose.
  • If children are feeling sick, please keep them home from school. Allow them some time to feel better so that they don’t risk infecting others. Children should be fever-free, without medication, for 24 hours before returning to school. Keeping children home when they are sick is critical to prevention.
  • Avoid close contact with people who are sick.
  • Clean and disinfect surfaces or objects, especially frequently touched areas.
  • Beginning immediately, staff and students will be highly encouraged to cease hand shaking, hugging and other actions that result in close contact with or touching another person.

We will be adding a tab to our website with additional links and information provided by the Ohio Department of Health, and the CDC. We will also be meeting with our custodial service company over the next couple of days to discuss enhanced disinfecting strategies to begin this week. In addition we will be reviewing our emergency operating procedures and following the advice and guidelines set forth by local, state, and federal health organizations.

Things can, and probably will, change rapidly based on the information that we have available to us. Be assured that we are taking all necessary precautions to keep our school population safe, while continuing to provide the incredible teaching and learning opportunities that exist at the Dayton Regional STEM School. If it would come to the point where we feel it is necessary to cancel onsite classes for a period of time we will inform all families about our plans to continue education remotely or to resume school at a later date.

With your support, we can work together to prevent illnesses and keep our school a healthy and safe learning environment for all. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out through email or phone call.

Sincerely,

Robin Fisher
Superintendent/CAO