Dear CJDS Community,
Our entire CJDS Team is looking forward to a wonderful year of learning and community building. As we celebrate our 25th anniversary as a school, we are excited to make this year a year of excellence. It should be a year filled with joy and hope as we nurture these precious children with whom you have entrusted us with their care!
These past 2 and 1/2 years have taken a toll on every institution and every person connected to those institutions. Unlike the disease itself, there is no vaccine protocol that can address these unintended consequences in the spread of this disease. Our Covid policies are thoughtful and sound and based on applicable science. They demonstrate that CJDS is committed to promoting the physical, educational and emotional health of our children. Should there be a need to alter these policies that will be in place as we begin the new school year, we are quite capable of doing so quickly. Mitigation remains a priority. Enabling children to live their best possible lives remains a responsibility.
What follows are the guidelines for starting our 2022-23 school year. Please feel free to contact me to address any concerns. On this, and any other issue, you will find our entire team to be a team with a caring heart, a listening ear and an open hand. The most important way to return to a sense of normalcy is to ensure that our children are vaccinated and boosted. We are proud of the fact that nearly all of the CJDS community has done so. We encourage our families to continue to vaccinate and boost when appropriate.
Testing
You are our most important first responder! We ask that you conduct a daily symptoms check at home with your child. If your child has 1 or more symptoms, we ask that your child stay home until you receive a medical diagnosis from a medical professional or a negative test.
Last year, we administered 3610 tests throughout the school year. There were 24 positive cases identified. The newly released CDC guidelines encourage testing when infection rates in a county are moderate or high. Franklin County is currently at the Orange or high level. We will begin the once-a week testing at the start of the school year. Our first day of testing will be Monday, August 29th. We will continually monitor the efficacy of this testing and the potential for altering its schedule during the year. This weekly test is not mandatory, but we hope families will avail themselves of it during this Orange phase of spread. Information for signing up will be emailed to you. We will continue to assess its utility at regular intervals.
Covid Diagnosis
When there is a positive test, the student will be asked to be at home for 5 days. After 5 days, a student without a fever should return to school and wear a high quality mask until 10 days after diagnosis or the onset of symptoms have passed. We will also continually monitor this standard for its impact on learning and for the emotional health of the student and family. This past week, a leading Public Health authority wrote in the New York Times that one-way masking is an effective tool for use in school.
Covid Exposure
Should your child be exposed, we ask that you inform the school as soon as possible. We would also ask you to immediately test. If, after testing, your child is negative and asymptomatic, they should continue in school as usual. Please continue to monitor the situation at home. We will do so at school as well. Since Franklin County is currently Orange, we will ask that your child be masked(N or KN-95) for the 10 days while at school. On our website, you will find a new page devoted to helping you make proper decisions on when to keep your child home from school for health reasons.
Lunchtime
Eating is a sacred part of any Jewish person’s day. Each meal begins and ends with blessing. Students will be physically distanced at lunchroom tables when eating indoors. CJDS will provide additional seating at tables for students needing further distancing. We can assure you that no child will ever eat lunch alone at a table in such a situation.
Families and Visitors to the School
We know how important it is to share the wonder and magic of our school community with families and visitors alike. We want the larger community to see the joyful educational environment we have created. We will again welcome visitors to our school, at appropriate times. We trust that these visitors will be vaccinated or will be masked.
We will regularly update our community should there be a changing situation regarding Covid. We will continue to monitor the CDC and the Franklin County Public Health Dept guidelines. Similarly, we will continue to seek the counsel of our CAC (Covid Advisory Committee) and make decisions that protect the health and welfare of our community. As partners with you in educating your children, we always welcome your thoughts. Please feel free to contact me to discuss them. Our Senior Leadership Team joins me in wishing us all a good, healthy and productive new school year.
Rabbi Morris Allen
Interim Head of School
