Colorado Charter School Institute
1600 N Broadway, Ste. 1250, Denver, CO 80202
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COVID-19: Updates & Guidance |
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July 22, 2021
Dear School Leaders,
This newsletter includes:
- SY 2021-22 CDPHE School Guidance
- Virtual Parent Town Hall with the USDOE
Note that Michael McManus, CSI Career Pathways and School Programs Coordinator, will be hosting office hours on Friday, July 23 at 9:00am to answer questions about 2021-22 COVID-19 school year preparations (details below):
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SY 2021-22 CDPHE School Guidance |
This guide is designed to help schools operationalize and clarify the CDC’s recommendations. The state has let all statewide school-based health orders and mandates expire and instead has adopted a guidance model designed to empower local public health and local leaders to protect their communities using the mitigation strategies most appropriate to local conditions. The guidance provides practical tools to assess the risks of COVID-19 and minimize those risks. The guidance does not constitute statewide requirements, but instead outlines evidence-based best practices for local governments and schools to implement together to manage the next stage of the pandemic. Local public health still has the authority to enforce local public health orders, which may include quarantine requirements.
This guidance strongly recommends local leaders and school leaders take a layered approach to prevention as described above. Communities with higher rates of transmission and low vaccination rates should continue to take heightened COVID-19 precautions.
The following criteria constitute higher risk:
- The community has a vaccination rate under 70% among individuals age 12 and older.
- The school has a vaccination rate under 70% among staff and students age 12 and older.
- The community’s transmission rate is above 35 cases per 100,000 people over a seven-day period.
When schools and/or their communities have low vaccination rates and are experiencing high rates of community transmission (defined as 35 cases per 100,000 people over seven days), the local public health agency should work with schools and school districts to institute higher precautionary measures, such as:
- Masking.
- Increased physical distancing.
- Serial COVID-19 testing.
- Contact tracing.
- Targeted quarantining.
- Limiting high risk activities.
Regardless of transmission and vaccination rates, all education settings should create the safest environment possible for their students through tried-and-true disease prevention measures. These include promoting hand washing, ensuring good ventilation, encouraging activities outside, social distancing, and asking sick students to stay home following CDPHE’s Return to Learn tool. In addition, CDC continues to recommend mask-wearing for all individuals age two and older in indoor settings who are not vaccinated. Masking is an especially critical strategy when a community is at higher risk of transmission. Schools should create an accepting environment for parents and students who choose to use masks even when they are not required.
Vaccinations
- Fully vaccinated staff and students never have to miss school due to quarantine, and fully vaccinated staff and students are not advised to wear masks unless they choose to.
- Schools can verify the vaccination status of their students using the Colorado Immunization Information System (CIIS) without written consent. Per FERPA, written consent must be obtained if a school wants to enter vaccination data for a student into CIIS. Statute does not permit schools to use CIIS to verify the vaccination status of employees or staff.
- Acceptable proof of COVID-19 vaccination will be the same as all other school-required vaccines. A student may provide the vaccination card that includes the name of the provider, name of the patient, date, type of vaccine, and lot number.
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CDPHE has added COVID-19 vaccines to the “recommended vaccines” section of the official Colorado Certificate of Immunization to better enable incoming students to share records of their immunizations with their school.
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Any school or school district interested in hosting a vaccination clinic can complete the online Vaccination Event Request Form
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CDPHE online vaccine education module
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Vaccine campaign and educational toolkits
- CDPHE Adolescent COVID-19 Vaccination toolkit
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COVID-19 vaccine FAQs
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Vaccine equity strategy talking points
Masking
- As of July 1, 2021, masks are no longer required in schools under the state public health order. Local public health agencies may issue orders requiring masks within their jurisdictions, or schools and districts may choose to implement their own mask policies. Counties and municipalities can adopt stricter standards than the statewide order. This statewide order is scheduled to expire on August 1, 2021.
- People who are not required by the order to wear a mask, even if unvaccinated, include:
- People who are 11 years old and younger.
- People who cannot medically tolerate a face covering.
- Children younger than 2 years old should NOT wear masks.
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Per CDC Order, facemasks are required to be worn by individuals over the age of 2 riding public transportation, and school buses are considered a form of public transportation.
Applicability
- This guidance applies to all circumstances where a teacher or caregiver cares for multiple children outside the usual home of the children. These circumstances include, but are not limited to:
- K-12 schools, both public and private.
- Licensed child care settings.
- Home-based family child care settings.
- License-exempt child care programs such as single skill building and 72-hour camps.
- Guest child care facilities at ski resorts and courthouses.
- “Pods” and other home learning/homeschooling groups.
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This guide also applies to extracurricular activities, including sports, where the participants are in grades P-12. Additional guidance for sports can be found on the Organized Sports page.
Tools
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Virtual Parent Town Hall with the USDOE |
Thursday, July 29, 8:00 - 9:00 pm ET
The intended audience for this virtual town hall is parents.
After a year and a half of grappling with the challenges brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, students across the country are slated to return to school in-person this fall. However, for many, especially parents, the return to in-person instruction has brought with it a variety of worries, hesitations, and questions:
- Will my child(ren) be safe at school?
- What COVID precautions should I look for in my child’s school?
- How will schools take my child's social and emotional well-being into account?
- Is the vaccine safe?
- Should I get the vaccine?
- Should my child(ren) get the vaccine?
While one of Biden Administration’s top priorities is to have all students back in-person this fall, they recognize that this goal will not be met if parents’ voices are not heard, and their concerns taken into account. This Parent Town Hall is a unique opportunity for parents to share their ideas and concerns, and to get their questions answered.
During the event, panelists from the US Department of Education and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will answer parents’ questions and address concerns around the return to in-person instruction.
Parents are invited to submit questions about the return to in-person instruction on the registration form. Pre-submitted questions will help plan the content of the session. Time will also be reserved for live questions and answers at the end of the event. Click here to register.
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