February 1, 2022
Dear Independence Local Schools’ Families,
Late last week, the Ohio Department of Health updated school requirements when positive cases of Covid-19 are identified. No longer will districts have to conduct universal contact tracing or recommend quarantine or mandate masking when students are exposed to Covid-19 in the school setting. This is not intended to minimize the significance of exposure to Covid-19 and make parents guess whether their children are exposed to the virus, but rather, intending to emphasize that Covid-19 is part of our world and schools have not demonstrated to be a place of significantly high-incident exposure.
Independence Local Schools will no longer conduct contact tracing and inform families of potential exposure as close contacts. We will continue to inform parents of positive cases in their child’s classroom (primary school) or grade-level (middle and high school cases) with emails from your student’s building. We will also continue to report staff and student cases to the Cuyahoga County Board of Health and update our Covid-19 dashboard. If clusters are identified, which are classrooms or areas with 3 or more positive cases in a 14-day period, we will cooperate with the Board of Health in any investigation and tracing.
Quarantine Protocols
If a student or staff member is exposed, outside of school, to someone with Covid-19 and considered a close contact, they must quarantine (stay home, avoid others, monitor for symptoms) for 5 days. They may return to school on the 6th day if symptom-free, continue to monitor for symptoms, and wear a mask for 5 more days.
If the exposure was in a school setting, we are following Ohio’s Mask to Stay protocols, allowing the student or staff member to attend school and participate in school events, while masking and monitoring for symptoms for 10 days (no quarantine if symptom-free).
If the individual meets any of the three conditions below and verifies this with the school office and/or Board of Health, they may also avoid quarantine and continue to attend school while masking and monitoring for symptoms for 10 days:
- Received a COVID-19 booster dose
- Completed a Pfizer or Moderna COVID-19 primary vaccine series less than 6 months ago or a Johnson & Johnson vaccine series less than 2 months ago
- Tested positive for COVID-19 within the past 3 months and recovered.
In the above scenarios of Covid-19 exposure, it is recommended that the individual tests on day 5 or later and if they test positive or develop any symptoms, isolate, and immediately contact your healthcare provider.
We will continue to provide take-home tests for any student who is exposed or develops symptoms, based on test availability.
Again, we will continue to update our district’s Covid-19 information weekly through our dashboard, which is available on our district website. We will also remain committed to providing as many great experiences and opportunities for our kids.
I recognize these ever-changing guidelines can be hard to interpret when you have a positive case in your home. If your student is exposed, has symptoms, or tests positive, contact your school office for help with next steps.
Sincerely,
Ben Hegedish
Superintendent
