January 7, 2022

Dear Xavier Families,

Prayers and blessings to you and your family in this new year.

We’d like to follow up with you on policies pertaining to masks as well share information about the CDC’s recent updates pertaining to length of isolation, quarantine and close contacts.

As we shared on December 15, with the availability of vaccinations for students 5-11 years, we are updating our COVID protocols and policy pertaining to masks. Effective January 10, 2022, we will be updating our COVID protocols and transitioning to strongly recommend masks (but not require) for students and employees.

Beginning on January 10, each day at 2:00pm we will monitor our Dashboard. Should the percentage of students and staff who test positive with COVID-19 exceed 2% of the campus population, that campus will be required to wear masks for 14 days. Following those 14 days, there will be an evaluation to determine when cases drop below 2% and when masks would return to optional. Classes will still remain in session and in-person during this time.

Please note that our website editing tool is currently down due to technical issues with our website provider. Please know that we are internally monitoring and updating our Dashboard. None of our campuses have met the 2% threshold. If our website provider does not correct the technical issues by Monday, we’ll seek out an alternative way to keep parents and staff updated on our count of positive COVID-19 cases.

On December 27, the CDC released Updates and Shortens Recommended Isolation and Quarantine Period for General Population. On January 5, the Appleton Health Department confirmed that these updated policies do apply to K-12 schools. The CDC updates include:

1-2 days prior to onset of symptoms and the 2-3 days after. 

Based on this information, Xavier’s updated protocols now include:

Students who test positive for COVID-19 need to isolate for at least 5 full days and may not attend school during this time. Students may return to school on Day 6 as long as they have no symptoms. Students with symptoms may not return to school until symptom-free for at least 24 hours without fever reducing medications.

In this situation, students need to quarantine for 5 full days. If students develop symptoms during quarantine, the student needs to be tested for COVID-19 before he/she can return to school. Students who have been fully vaccinated may be able to attend school during this period. Please consult with your school office to review your situation and to determine if a student is eligible to attend school.

Please Note: If a family/household member has symptoms and is being tested for COVID, please keep all students at home until you receive the COVID test results. (Students who have been fully vaccinated may be able to attend school during this period. Please consult with your school office to review your situation and to determine if a student is eligible to attend school.)

We believe these are prudent adjustments that allow us to focus on the most important tools to fight the spread of COVID: vaccinations and staying home when sick. Just like we’ve done since February 2020, we will consult with our local health departments including monitoring the impact of the Omicron variant. As we monitor cases across our campus and in the local areas, we always reserve the right to make changes and adjustments to our COVID protocols.

As always, we appreciate your ongoing support, cooperation and flexibility as we all navigate COVID together. And please know that you and your family remain in our prayers.

Sincerely,