Dear Parents,
This week has been filled with highs and lows!
There was excitement in the air all week as our older kids had a week long celebration of Dr. Suess. The kids had a chance to participate in themed days like crazy hat, silly socks, and dressing up in careers they wish to pursue when they grow up. I will be putting that video on Facebook in the days to come.
Perhaps the most exciting part of the week was the ruling that all preschool staff and K-12 personnel regardless of age, are now considered "front line" workers and are now eligible to receive the COVID vaccine.
We have been able to schedule more than half of our staff to get vaccinated starting today and through the weekend. That extra level of protection will give our teachers piece of mind when dealing with a room full of kids each and every day!
The low part of the week came when I had to send home both teachers in Green Door as they both developed flu like symptoms on Wednesday. As a precaution, we closed the room Thursday and Friday, had it deep cleaned and sent the teachers for testing. Thankfully both tested NEGATIVE and Green Door will open again on Monday. I thank those parents affected for understanding and your well wishes for the teachers.
Again I am begging parents, PLEASE DO NOT SEND KIDS TO SCHOOL THAT ARE SICK. I know missing work is an extreme hardship for many, but sending kids to school even with a cold is not fair to our staff and the other kids in the room. If we see your child is sick with even a runny nose, we will call and ask you to pick them up right away.
We are seeing all over the state that class closures are becoming the norm and although out of our control, we must continue to follow health and safety guidelines.
The new CDC protocol states that if we are notified that a child or teacher in a room has COVID the room must be closed. If those exposed are tested on the 7th day after being exposed to someone in the room and come back NEGATIVE, on the 8th day the child/staff can return to the room.
OR if the child is symptom free on the 9th day with NO TESTING, they can return on the 10th day.
We are all doing our best during this pandemic. We are over cleaning and sanitizing constantly during the day and in the evenings. Our teachers and kids ages 4 and up are wearing a mask. Even with such precautions, we have no control if student or teacher tests positive.
If this happens, we will alert parents immediately through Brightwheel as an ALERT and follow up with phone calls. If this happens and you get the alert, please reply that you got it. If we don't hear from you within 20 minutes of the message we will begin making phone calls.
With your help, we can continue to keep our school safe. Wishing you a healthy and safe weekend.
Beth Rosenthal Davis
