Weekly Update from the Office of the Superintendent
Volume 2, Issue 20 (January 14, 2022)
|
|
CHANGES TO QUARANTINE & ISOLATION REQUIREMENTS
The NYS Department of Health released another guidance document yesterday providing additional clarifications regarding isolation and quarantine requirements. This is an area that continues to change and is very important for the community to understand. This guidance determines whether individual students need to quarantine or isolate.
Contact Tracing:
- Schools may work with their local health department to ensure that members of the school community, including students, staff, and teachers, who test positive for, develop symptoms of or are exposed to COVID-19 have access to the information they need to take appropriate steps to protect themselves and others. This may include isolating or quarantining, notifying close contacts, staying home when ill, monitoring symptoms, and wearing a well-fitting mask. Isolation and quarantine attestation forms, and related information are available at state and local health department websites.
- When an individual has been identified as a close contact of someone who tested positive for or has symptoms of COVID-19 which occurred on the school campus, for example, in a classroom, schools should at least notify parents and guardians of affected students. Exposed individuals should be referred to information provided by the state or local health department and should follow the quarantine guidance as noted below.
Isolation (Those Who Test Positive or are Symptomatic):
- Isolation is used to separate people with confirmed or suspected COVID-19 from those without COVID-19, regardless of vaccination status. Everyone who has presumed or confirmed COVID-19 should stay home and isolate from other people for at least 5 full days (day 0 is the first day of symptoms or the date of the positive viral test was taken for asymptomatic persons). If symptoms persist further isolation will be required; otherwise, they may attend school or work after the 5-day isolation. They should wear a mask when around others at home, at work, and in public for an additional 5 days in accordance with Department guidelines.
Quarantine (Close Contacts):
-
In-classroom activities: All fully vaccinated* individuals (students, teachers, and staff), who have been exposed to an individual with COVID-19, and who are asymptomatic, may continue to attend or work at school, including public transportation, regardless of booster status. However, such individuals must remain quarantined outside of school (see below). This recommendation continues previous guidance in place prior to January 4, 2022. Continued attendance applies only to participation in classroom activities and using public transportation to and from school.
- *Fully vaccinated is defined as two weeks after the receipt of either two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccine or one dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine or full course of any other recognized vaccine.
-
Extracurricular or after school activities: Individuals 12 years and older who are eligible for a booster but not boosted, and who have been exposed to an individual with COVID-19, cannot participate in extracurricular or after school activities and, aside from school attendance for instruction and travel to and from school and must adhere to a 5-day quarantine at home. Fully vaccinated 5-11-year-old children are not eligible for a booster and are not restricted from extracurricular or after school activities.
-
Those not vaccinated: Students, teachers, and staff who are not vaccinated or have not completed a primary vaccine series who came into close contact with someone with COVID-19 should quarantine for at least 5 days (day 0 through day 5) after their last close contact. These individuals may be eligible for Test to Stay programs that would allow them to stay in the school setting during the quarantine period. Outside the school setting, quarantine recommendations would apply.
|
|
TEST TO STAY
We are beginning our Test to Stay Program on Tuesday, January 18th. Test to Stay is available for unvaccinated asymptomatic students who are identified as close contacts and thus have to quarantine for 5 days.
Here are the Test to Stay procedures families can expect:
-
You will be notified that your child is eligible for Test to Stay when you are informed of your child’s close contact status by the school nurse or administrator. Please note: This program is only open to those students notified by the district of their eligibility. Children who are not on the eligibility list for Test to Stay will not be able to be tested.
-
The 1st day of testing will be the day after notification (or, if not attending that day, the next day of attendance). Your child will not be able to attend school without being tested and receiving a negative result. If your child does not participate on Day 1, the first day of testing would be the next day your child attends school.
- The parent/guardian must be present for the test. If the parent/guardian cannot be present, the child will not be able to be tested.
- Testing will take place at Kenmore Middle School between 6:00 a.m. and 8:15 a.m. It is strongly encouraged that families adhere to the following schedule:
- 6:00-6:45 a.m.: High School Students (Gr. 8-12)
- 6:45-7:30 a.m.: Middle School Students (Gr. 5-7)
- 7:30-8:15 a.m.: Elementary School Students (Gr. K-4)
- Enter off Myron Avenue at the rear of the building and follow the signs. You will enter through Door #5 and proceed to Room #112 for your child’s test.
- Parents/guardians will need to complete a hard copy consent form. This form can be printed and completed ahead of time.
- If your child tests negative: Your child will receive a pass that enables him/her to attend school. It is recommended that families provide transportation to and from home while the student is participating in TTS but he/she may ride the bus. You will need to return for your child’s second test on Day 5 of your child’s quarantine period.
-
If your child tests positive: Your child will need to follow the 5-day isolation requirements.
- Participating students are eligible to continue to attend school, but continued attendance only applies to participation in classroom activities (not extracurricular activities, sports, etc.) during their mandated quarantine period. These students must wear a well-fitting mask during this time (and for the 5 days following TTS).
- If your child develops symptoms during the 5-day quarantine period, your child will not be able to continue participating in Test to Stay. He/she will need to isolate and seek testing outside of Test to Stay. He/she will be eligible to return to school if negative and/or 5 days have passed since the onset of symptoms.
Additional information on Test to Stay as well as the changes to quarantine and isolation requirements and new mitigation measures such as distributing test kits and KN-95 masks were discussed at Tuesday's Board of Education. You can view the presentation here.
|
|
KEN-TON SAFE SCHOOL HELPLINE |
|
Each week, we will highlight some of the exciting things taking place in our schools. Be sure to follow the Ken-Ton School District on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram (@ktufsd) for more school highlights! |
|
Franklin Elementary School: During virtual learning in spring and fall 2020, RTI Teacher Ellen Rhoney at Franklin Middle School noticed that some students had few choices for reading at home. In response, Mrs. Rhoney submitted an application to the Impact Library Program through the non-profit organization Little Free Library. Little Free Libraries are located world-wide and offer free reading materials to anyone visiting the stand-alone libraries. Mrs. Rhoney received an Impact Little Free Library and it was installed on the Franklin Campus in May 2021. Through the summer, books were restocked each week and visitors from the school and community enjoyed taking and sharing books through the Franklin Little Free Library.
The Franklin Little Free Library continues to offer high-interest, quality reading materials. Students and families at Franklin Middle have donated books to keep the selection stocked and current. Mrs. Rhoney started a Little Free Library Club at FMS for students to participate in selecting, labeling and stocking the Franklin Little Free Library. Books in any Little Free Library are always a gift and can be kept, shared or returned.
This fall, Mrs. Rhoney’s 7th grade students partnered with students in the 4th Grade classroom of Jessica Mang-Morris at Franklin Elementary. The 7th graders read books about kindness, celebrating our differences and holidays to the 4th graders. In preparation, the 7th grade students rehearsed reading the books they selected. Repeated reading allowed the students to practice their fluency and inflection, prepare questions for the younger students and gain confidence in speaking in front of a group. The 4th grade students were also able to choose books from the Little Free Library to enjoy reading at home.
More information about the Little Free Library organization can be found at littlefreelibrary.org. Any questions about Franklin Little Free Library can be directed to LFLFranklin@ktufsd.org.
|
|
Kenmore West High School: This past weekend, 10 Kenmore West students participated in the New York State Theatre Student Conference. The conference pivoted to a virtual format this year. These students represented Kenmore West beautifully. They were engaged participants, asked well thought-out questions and led the way in connecting with students from across the state. The workshops the students participated in were varied and included Improvisation, Clowning, Stage Combat, Contemporary Dance, Technical Theatre, Stage to Screen, Voice Animation as well as many others. This two-day NYSTEA conference has become a much-anticipated experience for many years at Theatre West. These students embraced the opportunity and made the most of it.
|
|
RECOGNITION: COMMUNITY MEMBERS |
|
This week, I wish to recognize the entire Ken-Ton community for the manner in which you continue to express your views and opinions with civility.
There are many complicated issues we are facing in which people disagree, such as masks and vaccinations. Many people in our community have spoken about these issues at Board of Education meetings and they have done so respectfully. Despite how strongly they feel about these topics and the fact that these issues have proven to be contentious in other venues, our speakers consistently express their viewpoints while remaining civil. Our Board of Education meetings are a perfect example of how people can express opinions but still be considerate and tolerant of different points of view. This demonstrates excellent character and is exactly what we hope to model for our students.
I sincerely appreciate everyone who has taken time out of their day to attend and speak at a Board meeting, regardless of the topic. It is extremely important that we always listen to one another, even if we do not always agree. It is important that we remember in disagreement we always continue to learn and grow as a community.
|
|
As a reminder, there will be no school this Monday, January 17th for Martin Luther King Jr. Day. We honor Dr. King on the third Monday in January each year to preserve his dream of bringing peace and equality to everyone.
Dr. King worked his entire life to end persecution and discrimination in America and ultimately sacrificed his life for it. It is extremely important that we all take a few minutes this weekend to reflect on Dr. King’s legacy and teachings. We all need to have conversations with our children about why it is so important to honor Dr. King in such a way and what we can do in our daily lives to continue his work.
There are a great deal of valuable resources maintained by the Martin Luther King Jr. Research and Education Institute at Stanford University that may be of interest to people in our community. Many of these resources are available to everyone free of charge on their website at kinginstitute.stanford.edu.
|
|
Thank you for reviewing this information. As always, we remain Ken-Ton Proud, Ken-Ton Strong, and Ken-Ton Moving Forward!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
