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Dear Senesh Parents,

We are grateful to all of you for being our partners as we navigate COVID, prioritizing the health of our community and in-person learning for our students. Your partnership and support has strengthened our school community and allowed our students to continue to experience our engaging and purposeful educational program with excellent and committed staff each and every day. Thank you!

While we have experienced unprecedented positivity rates in our school community and beyond in the past few weeks, we also see from scientific data that those who are vaccinated are experiencing much milder illness. This is great news for our school community as 100% of our students will be fully vaccinated with the two shot series by January 28 and 100% of our staff are already fully vaccinated and have received their boosters. Thank you to everyone for doing your part as a community member. There also continues to be little evidence of in-school spread with our current mitigation strategies in place.

We are expecting the impact of the Omicron variant to subside in the coming weeks. As we look ahead, our hope is to transition to a point where we coexist alongside COVID in our school. It is too early to know what mitigation measures will need to be in place this spring or even next fall, but we have begun conversations so we can make adjustments as the virus and data continue to evolve. We will continue to communicate about this with all of you.

As we stay updated with emerging data and guidance from epidemiologists while navigating directives from the local health departments and the CDC, we are able to shorten isolation times for COVID positive cases, which is great news as we move towards keeping our children and staff in school. Additionally, fully vaccinated students and staff who have been exposed to COVID outside their household no longer need to quarantine. This will soon be 100% of our school community! In the coming weeks, we will assess our in-person surveillance COVID testing program to determine the best plan for our community. 

SENESH GUIDELINES TO DATE

STAY HOME WITH SYMPTOMS

  • All individuals with a respiratory illness or any symptoms consistent with COVID must stay home from school while symptomatic and provide a negative PCR test to return to school.  
  • If the individual tests negative for COVID, they can return as soon as they are symptom free and 24 hour fever-free.

BOOSTER DOSE REQUIRED FOR STUDENTS AGES 12 AND OLDER
 
The vaccine remains the best protection against serious illness. Being up-to-date on vaccination will also help keep your children out of quarantine if they are in contact with someone who has COVID. All students 12 and older are required to receive the Pfizer booster dose no later than January 31, 2022 or five months after completing the primary vaccination series. Please upload proof of vaccination to Magnus.

SHORTER ISOLATION PROTOCOLS FOR COVID POSITIVE CASES

Those who test positive for COVID, are required to stay home for five days and isolate themselves from others in their home. Day 0 is counted as the date of the positive COVID test or the date symptoms began. Day 1 is the first full day after symptoms developed or the test specimen was collected. 

Ending isolation WITH symptoms
  • End isolation after 5 full days if fever-free for 24 hours (without the use of fever-reducing medication) and symptoms are resolved. 
  • If symptoms continue, isolate for a full ten days.
  • No additional tests are required for return to school. 

Ending isolation WITHOUT symptoms
  • End isolation after 5 full days after a positive test if symptom free.
  • If symptoms do not begin until after a positive test result; five day count begins on the day symptoms are presented.
  • No additional tests are required for return to school. 

SHORTER QUARANTINE PROTOCOLS FOR CASES OF COVID EXPOSURE OUTSIDE THE HOUSEHOLD
  • If confirmed COVID within the past 90 days, continue to attend school. 
  • If fully vaccinated (ages 5-11 received the two dose series and ages 12 and over received the booster), individuals exposed to COVID outside of their household who are asymptomatic continue attending school. 
  • If not fully vaccinated (ages 5-11 received the two dose series or ages 12 and over received the booster); individuals who are asymptomatic continue attending school, and must submit a negative rapid PCR test on days 2 and 5 after their last close contact.
  • Due to a higher risk of secondary transmission from household members, those individuals must quarantine for five days, test on day 5 and provide a negative PCR rapid test for a return to school. Children in quarantine will participate in our remote learning program. You will receive specific instructions from the appropriate division director.

Thank you again to our staff, students, and parents who have collectively prioritized and supported the school and one another to benefit our students' health, learning and wellbeing. And to everyone who has shared their feedback with me along the way. While we all want to get back to “normal” as soon as possible, we remain grateful for your support, patience, and trust as we move our school forward.

In partnership,

Nicole Nash
Head of School