What's Up at North Allegheny School District
Week of January 24-28, 2022
Each week, we will share news from the District and from your student’s building.

Please click on your student’s building below to access their building-specific information.

Below the links to the building newsletters, you will find important information from the District.
Elementary School Newsletters
Middle School Newsletters
High School Newsletters
NACA Newsletters
District-Wide Important Dates
  • January 26 - School Board Regular Meeting
  • January 27 - NA Foundation Alumni Gala
  • February 3 - Superintendent's Coffee @ FES, 7 p.m.
  • February 21 - No School (Presidents' Day)
  • February 23 - School Board Combined Meeting
District Updates
Updated 2021-2022 Health & Safety and Education Plan

An updated copy of the District’s combined 2021-2022 Health & Safety and Education Plan can be found on our website. Updates to the plan are highlighted in yellow.
Updated Process for Submitting a Positive COVID-19 Test

Changes in CDC quarantine guidance and an increase in positive COVID-19 cases has required the District to review our process for gathering information about new cases and close contacts. To streamline data collection and allow our Health Services staff to assist students during the school day, we implemented a new process for submitting a positive COVID-19 test.
  • The new form went into effect on Friday, January 14. You may notice slight changes to the form. As we implement this process, we will be collecting feedback and updating the language as needed. 
  • Parents/guardians and staff will complete a form if they are a close contact with a COVID-19 positive person, or received a COVID-19 positive test result. 
  • The form assists a parent/guardian or staff member in generating a return to school date based on the information collected and allows families and staff to request a call from a health services staff member, if necessary. 
  • The new form for students can be found here. 
Healthcare IT Update

In August the District approved a contract to partner with Healthcare IT to assist with COVID-19 case management. At the time, we selected a service agreement for 100 contact traces per month. This was determined based on historical case counts in the 2020-2021 school year. Last school year we had approximately 550 cases the entire year. The District estimated we would have double the cases by the end of this school year. We reached close to 550 cases total in December and are currently over 1,400 total cases this school year which is close to three times the total number of cases from last year.

After a discussion with Healthcare IT, they shared they are unable to meet the demands of our District cases. Additionally, with the shortened CDC quarantine guidelines, Healthcare IT would need to increase staffing, which would increase the cost of services. Effective January 19, 2022, the District is no longer utilizing Healthcare IT. As a result, we will return the contact tracing element of COVID-19 to NASD staff.

Moving forward, all quarantine and exposure notices will be sent from NASDCOVIDResponseTeam@northallegheny.org. This is an unmonitored email account; however, if you respond to this email, you will be directed to contact your school’s main office.
Requesting Vaccination Cards

According to CDC guidelines, students who are fully vaccinated are not required to quarantine if they are considered a close contact with a positive COVID-19 case. The main goal of this school year is to maintain in-person learning as much as possible.

NASD is continually updating its records of students and staff who are fully vaccinated. Please submit a copy of the vaccine card to your school nurse.
Vaccination Status in Tyler SIS

  • Vaccination information is stored in the Tyler Student Information System. The nurse, parent/guardian, and student are the only individuals who can view this information in Tyler SIS. 
  • Recently, the District has received questions about how our Certified School Nurses (CSN) are aware of student COVID-19 vaccination status when families have not submitted a copy of their student’s vaccination record. 
  • In the school setting, Certified School Nurses are considered health providers and are responsible for monitoring multiple vaccinations on students who are required to attend school. Further, at this time, they are charged with assisting in contract tracing activities to help slow the spread of COVID-19. To assist in these job functions, our CSN staff can access PA-SIIS, a statewide immunization registry and tracking system, through the PA Department of Health. 
  • The Department of Health is a public health authority legally authorized to receive information without patient authorization for the purpose of preventing or controlling disease. 
  • When families are issued quarantine letters, they can be excused from quarantine if they are fully vaccinated. Oftentimes, in discussion with families, Health Services does not have a copy of a student’s vaccine record. Therefore, Certified School Nurses utilize the PA SIIS to verify vaccination records and/or to look up if a student is vaccinated in order to send families proper instructions on how to react to their contact with a COVID-19 positive individual. 

While the information is entered into the Tyler Student Information System, access to a student’s vaccination status in a student’s record is restricted to Health Services employees, that student, and their parents/guardians.
COVID-19 Response to Transmission

The previously published charts in the Recommendations for Pre-K to 12 Schools Following Identification of a Case(s) of COVID-19 guidelines are no longer a resource for schools in the Commonwealth. Instead, it has been replaced with Responding to a COVID-19 Outbreak in Schools. The District has not had to go remote due to COVID-19 cases. The District will continue to monitor the spread of COVID-19 within our school community and will continue to consult with the Allegheny County Health Department and District physician to determine the next steps for mitigation and response. The 14-day rolling count referenced in the link above is utilized to determine COVID-19 trends. Our goal is to maximize in-person instruction. This may mean not permitting students and staff on campus over a weekend in order to do a deep clean of the campus and reset the 14-day rolling count of COVID-19 cases.
Reminder: School Lunches Are Free

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) approved free meals for all students through the 2021-2022 school year. A free meal includes an entree, fruit(s), vegetable(s), and milk.
Athletics Updates
Stay Up to Date!

Visit athletics.northallegheny.org to stay current on all North Allegheny sports!
Resources
Missed a Newsletter?
All building newsletters are archived weekly on the North Allegheny website. This designated webpage will be updated with links to the previous week’s newsletters at the beginning of each school week by 11:30 a.m. A link to the archive is accessible on the District’s homepage and on each building’s homepage.
Community Flyers
We've gathered and approved all sorts of neat flyers from around the community and put them all in one place on our website. You should go to look at them. Seriously. Do it. Right meow.
District Contact
Central Administrative Office
200 Hillvue Lane
Pittsburgh, PA 15237
412-366-2100