I hope everyone is staying safe and well at home, and I most definitely hope those of us who have been directly affected by COVID are recovering and feeling better. I also appreciate everyone’s support to keep us safe at school and curb the impact COVID is having on our campuses.

As I shared earlier this week, our COVID Committee and district leaders have been reviewing our Northwest ISD Health and Safety Protocols in light of the increase in our positivity rates and additional guidance and recommendations from the CDC and TEA. As we prepare for getting back to business next Wednesday, I want to share the NISD COVID protocols that will be in place when we get back into our buildings. Many of these we’ve used before, but there is one change that will hopefully help us in our schools.

Please review these over the long weekend, and if you have any questions, you may contact your individual campuses. We will get back to you as soon as we can.

The first rule of thumb for this challenge – for our children and our staff – is DO NOT come to school sick. This last week we literally sent hundreds of staff and students home within the first hour of school because they were too sick to go through the day. Our staff members are phenomenal in the fact that they do not want to be gone from their responsibilities, and likewise for our students, they want to be in school as well. However, during this time of COVID transmission, everyone must assess themselves at the beginning of the day, and if any symptoms of COVID are felt, please do not come to school – go get tested and/or see a doctor. Do not take the chance of feeling worse and the chance of passing it on to others.

Adjusting the required quarantine period is the most significant change in our protocols that will hopefully keep our crew safe and our doors open. As I stated in my previous update, medical experts indicate this new variant seems to be less severe for most people, which our local health departments have confirmed.

To align NISD protocols with the guidance and recommendations from the CDC and TEA, staff will now quarantine for a minimum of five days. After that five days, they can return if their symptoms have improved and they are not running a fever (this must be achieved without fever-reducing medication). In keeping with the new guidance, we highly recommend they wear a mask for the following five days). Starting with the 6 p.m. update on Tuesday, January 18, the COVID dashboard will reflect the new quarantine schedule for staff in preparation for returning on Wednesday.

Please understand we did not close the school district because too many students were testing positive for COVID – it was staff positive tests. While we certainly have concerns about rising student cases, we had too few adults in our buildings to run our campuses effectively and safely. We are hoping lessening the required quarantine time will allow our healthy teachers and support staff the ability to return to the classroom earlier instead of waiting for the full 10-day quarantine. Teachers and staff who are still sick will remain at home.

Many already know this, but I tested positive for COVID last week. I felt bad (flu-like symptoms) for about a day, started feeling better the next day, and most of my symptoms had disappeared by day three. However, because of our original protocols, I had to spend seven more days away from our buildings and schools. Other staff have reported the same trend, so we hope by following the CDC/TEA recommendations, we can keep our crew safe, but also get them back in school when appropriate to do so.

And to make it clear, we are not changing the student quarantine requirement. Texas Department of State Health Services still requires school districts to adhere to the 10-day quarantine timeline for students, and TEA requires us to follow this as well. Therefore, until we are told otherwise by the health department and/or TEA, student quarantine remains at 10 days from the onset of symptoms.

With the increase in positivity rates, some campuses will enter a phase of restrictions on visitors on campus as discussed in our Health & Safety Protocols. Once a campus hits 5% positivity, visitors will be limited to small groups as approved by campus administrators. Lunch guests won’t be allowed for schools in this category, guests will not be able to attend events like class parties, and some indoor activities may be limited. Please be aware that these rates are specific to each campus, meaning different schools will have different guidelines, events, and activities depending on their campus positivity rate.

Closing all of the campuses was a blanket decision because the positive numbers were growing so fast across the district. When the numbers do start going down, we want our campuses to be able to open up as they can – according to the positivity rate. This puts a safety mechanism in place for schools that see higher COVID rates, but it also allows schools with lower rates to have more normal operations. We felt this very important because our schools are so spread out and none have identical needs at the same times.

One question we’ve frequently received is when we’ll close specific campuses for COVID. Our protocol for this hasn’t changed, but we’re updating the language to make it clearer. Once a campus hits a 3% positivity rate – that includes everyone on campus, students and staff – we begin the “investigative phase” of our protocols. The investigation determines the steps that will be taken to stop the spread, which may include: (1) no current action is warranted; (2) activities and visitors are limited; (3) a class or program is closed; or (4) the entire campus is closed. We look at all aspects, primarily to determine if there’s any campus spread. If closures can be targeted to specific classes or programs where COVID spread is taking place, this will allow schools to remain open while also limiting spread.

When we first published the COVID protocols over 1½ years ago, I did a poor job explaining the 3% rule. Many of our parents and staff understood a 3% positivity rate to mean an automatic closure, but that was never the case. The 3% campus rule gets us engaged on the district level to start our analysis, but there are many different actions that can be taken to deal with the specific challenge.

We need everyone’s help and support to make this temporary closure work in our favor. This five-day break should give us time to monitor for symptoms, test for COVID if necessary, and quarantine – hopefully curbing the high spread we have been seeing. Please use this time wisely at home and keep up healthy practices. Also remember we have always encouraged students and staff to wear masks on campus when social distancing is not possible. Masks are not required, but they may reduce the risk of transmission in schools

Not to be redundant (but to emphasize as much as possible), do not send your child to school if they are sick. The same goes for our staff – if you’re sick, stay home, report it to your campus as soon as you can so they can get a guest educator, and get tested. Remember that all COVID-related absences are considered excused, so if you need to take time to have your child tested for COVID, please do so.

As a reminder, if a student or a staff member tests positive for COVID during our closure, please be sure to complete the report form so that we can accurately track our COVID cases as we prepare to return to school on Wednesday.

It will take all of us working together, but as we’ve been saying, we will get through this – together!

PARA: Estudiantes, Familias y Personal de NISD

ASUNTO: Actualización del Superintendente

Con el aumento de los casos positivos, algunas escuelas entrarán en una fase de restricciones a los visitantes, como se explica en nuestros Protocolos de salud y seguridad. Una vez que una escuela alcance el 5% de positividad, los visitantes se limitarán a grupos pequeños según lo aprobado por los administradores de escuela. No se permitirán invitados para el almuerzo en las escuelas de esta categoría, los invitados no podrán asistir a eventos como fiestas de clase y algunas actividades en el interior pueden estar limitadas. Tenga en cuenta que estas reglas son específicas para cada escuela, lo que significa que las diferentes escuelas tendrán diferentes pautas, eventos y actividades según los casos positivos de cada escuela.

Reitero (pero para enfatizar tanto como sea posible), no envíe a su hijo a la escuela si está enfermo. Lo mismo ocurre con nuestro personal: si está enfermo, quédese en casa, repórtelo a su escuela lo antes posible para que puedan conseguir un educador substituto y hacerse la prueba. Recuerde que todas las ausencias relacionadas con COVID se consideran justificadas, por lo que si necesita tomarse el tiempo para que su hijo sea examinado por COVID, hágalo.

Como recordatorio, si un estudiante o un miembro del personal da positivo por COVID durante nuestro cierre, asegúrese de completar el formulario de informe para que podamos rastrear con precisión nuestros casos de COVID mientras nos preparamos para regresar a la escuela el miércoles.