Dear West Allegheny Families,

Please take a few minutes to watch this informative VIDEO message concerning our return to in-person instruction following the upcoming holiday break. 

With Thanksgiving one week away, we are sharing very important updates that may impact many of our families during the holiday break and upon our return to school.
 
Throughout the pandemic, we have been working diligently to ensure the health and safety of our students and staff while preserving our five-day in-person and online educational models. As a result of our amazing teachers, administrators, staff, students and families, we have done what no other district in Allegheny County has accomplished, 60 days of uninterrupted instruction, while managing COVID cases along the way.  
 
This has been possible because we have followed all of the safety guidelines recommended for reopening schools and because of your willingness to have your children strictly adhere to those established guidelines. 
This effort is becoming more and more challenging as the number of cases continue to rise in the community and across the country.  Despite our ongoing efforts, we cannot do it alone. We are asking all of our families to partner with us in taking additional measures to ensure a safe return to school following the holiday break. As such, we are asking all in-person families to comply with three key proactive requirements as appropriate:  
 
Travel Quarantine (Required): In compliance with the new Pennsylvania Department of Health Travel Order, we are requiring all students to quarantine for 14 days if traveling out of state. If returning on or before Monday, November 30, we are requiring your child to comply with a 14-day quarantine period from December 1-13. Your child will be able to return to school on Monday, December 14. We will not honor COVID testing as a means for readmittance to school following travel.  
 
Exposure Quarantine (Required): During the Thanksgiving break, if your child and/or family spent time with anyone who develops symptoms of illness, we are requiring a 14-day quarantine period from December 1-13. Your child will be able to return to school on Monday, December 14.  
 
Precautionary Quarantine (Optional): If you have reservations about sending your child back to school on December 1 due to holiday activities and/or being unsure about potential exposure, you may proactively quarantine your child from December 1-13. Your child will be able to return to school on Monday,
December 14.  
 
All quarantined students will have the option to receive instruction through:
 
  • Canvas Assignments - to begin Tuesday, December 1
OR
  • Teacher-led Instruction - to begin Wednesday, December 2

Students opting for teacher-led instruction throughout the quarantine period will obtain assignments through Canvas on Tuesday, December 1 and then move to teacher-led instruction beginning on Wednesday, December 2. This is to allow
us time to organize quarantine requests that are received over the Thanksgiving break. Teacher-led instruction may occur via live Zoom or recorded instruction at the teacher's discretion.
 
Once your response has been recorded, your child must remain in quarantine for the full two weeks and may return on Monday, December 14. Students will not be marked absent during quarantine.
 
Our in-person families are asked to log into Skyward via the District website no later than Tuesday, December 1 at 8 a.m. to complete the quarantine survey if your child will quarantine from December 1-13. Where applicable, please complete the quarantine survey as soon as possible if you are traveling and/or choosing the precautionary quarantine option. 

Please see our Survey Directions for how to complete the Quarantine Survey.

It is important to note, this survey applies only to the post-holiday quarantine period from December 1-13. Details on recommitting to an educational delivery model for the second semester will be communicated separately during the first week in December.  
 
We believe if our families are proactive, forthcoming and comply with all mitigation efforts, we will be able to continue in-person instruction, while ensuring our students and staff are protected and without the need to move to remote learning.
 
The District will only move from in-person instruction to remote learning in the event of three circumstances: a mandate is given by Allegheny County and/or Governor Wolf requiring remote learning, if staffing issues prevent us from safely operating our schools, or if our case numbers justify remote learning. It is our sincere hope that you follow the Stay-at-Home and Public Health Advisory issued by Allegheny County Health Department yesterday. They continue to support schools remaining open. As well, a Joint Statement was issued today by Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf, and the governors from New Jersey, New York, Delaware, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts supporting in-person instruction.
 
We are committed to preserving our in-person model as well as SOLA, WAVA and our 9-12 Hybrid model for the remainder of this school year.  

We wish all of our families a safe and enjoyable Thanksgiving break.
Health Organization Resources
Health guidance continues to evolve as more is known about the spread of COVID-19 and as numbers rise. Given this, we encourage parents to review the health agency recommendations and orders below regarding travel, gatherings and mask wearing. Please stay safe.
 
 
Case Reporting
West Allegheny remains committed to keeping the school community apprised of positive COVID cases in the District. Going forward, case updates will be provided daily through the District's COVID Tracker, which may also be found on the District website under Quick Links.
 
Since the start of school on August 25, there have been 22 resolved COVID cases. At this time, West Allegheny School District has 10 active cases. This means ten individuals are in isolation as a result of recently testing positive. We are pleased to report that Donaldson, McKee and Wilson have no active cases at the time of this update. Of note, McKee has not had a case since the start of school. 
 
Since our last update on Monday, November 16, we had three new confirmed cases, one (1) high school student related to hockey, and two (2) unrelated middle school cases, one staff member and one student. Of the ten active cases, four are staff members and six are students.  
 
The District has taken an aggressive approach to quarantining individuals in an effort to mitigate the spread. It is important to note that quarantined individuals are not indicative of positive cases, only that these individuals may have been exposed and are now on restrictive attendance following the health department mandates.
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