December 31, 2021
Bear Families,
We hope everyone is having a safe and restful winter break. As we prepare to return to school on Monday, we wanted to share important information about our updated COVID protocols.
We have been in regular contact with the health department and other districts over the past two weeks. As you are probably aware, districts are choosing to implement different protocols based on the recommendation of the health department, the Governor and their local COVID numbers.
We have seen some districts move to remote learning for two weeks or more as they return from break. We have seen other districts who have previously not been requiring face coverings implement a K-12 face covering policy for two weeks or even the entire month of January. Many of the districts that already had K-12 face covering requirements are staying the course.
Our number one goal continues to be that our kids remain in school. Please know that this has not changed. The health department agrees that students can safely be in school, and we do not plan to implement remote learning.
We are going to require face coverings for the next two weeks (PreK-12) as we wait for this current spike in cases to come down. We will evaluate our situation again in two weeks and communicate with you on Friday, January 14.
What factors contribute to this decision?
- The health department is strongly recommending we implement face covering mandates as we return to school during this spike in cases.
- All of the districts around us (Strongsville, Brecksville, Parma, Independence) are implementing some type of face covering requirement as we come back from break.
- Just before school started, we had approximately 50-70 cases over a two-week period between North Royalton and Broadview Heights. As of yesterday, that number was 1,294.
- We are clearly seeing more sick students and staff. We had to close school the day before break because we could not staff our buildings.
Why didn’t we make this decision earlier?
- We wanted to look at the data as long as possible before making a decision.
- The health department just sent additional guidance on December 30, 2021.
- We wanted to make sure we had an understanding of what all of the districts around us were doing and some were still making their decisions.
We understand that there are strong opinions that we should move to remote learning. We also understand that there are strong opinions that we should not institute a face covering requirement. We understand and respect those opinions.
We believe, after looking at the recommendations from our health officials and consulting with other school districts, our approach is a good one. This keeps students in school, and it gives us some time to watch the data and pivot when we see the data change.
We ask you to please keep your students at home if they are ill. Whether your child is experiencing any COVID-like symptoms, or any illness, it is important to have sick children remain at home for the health and wellness of all. The best way for us to slow down the spread of this virus is to limit exposure. At school, we will continue to implement our other mitigation strategies.
Moving forward, we will continue to consult with the local health department and monitor our numbers regarding any decisions involving COVID and our mitigation strategies.
If your student requires a medical exemption for wearing a face covering, please contact your child’s school.
As always, if you have any questions, you are welcome to contact me or your building administration.
Thank you,
Michael Laub
Superintendent
