January 5, 2021
Dear Parents/Guardians,
First and foremost, I would like to wish all of our families a Happy New Year! As we prepare to have students return for hybrid instruction next week, we wanted to share some additional updates and guidance from the New Jersey Department of Health (NJDOH), which was released on Tuesday, December 22, 2020. The NJDOH updated its COVID-19 Activity level Index and identified the vast majority of the state, as well as our particular region (Central East) as High Risk.
As a result of this increased risk, the NJDOH has updated its Recommendations For Local Health Depts.
Some of the key updates provided by the local and state departments of health include the following:
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Individuals with COVID-19 compatible symptoms should be excluded until they have a negative COVID-19 test or have met the criteria for discontinuing home isolation (i.e. at least 10 days have passed from the onset of symptoms and 24-hours fever-free without medication and other symptoms have improved).
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Note: An alternative medical diagnosis will no longer be accepted for return to school when individuals meet the COVID-19 exclusion criteria. This means that a doctor’s note cannot be accepted for return to school if an individual’s symptoms meet the COVID-19 illness criteria.
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Close contacts and household contacts of individuals who have COVID-19 compatible symptoms should be excluded for 14 days from the last contact or until a COVID-19 negative test is received from the person they were in contact with.
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Note: An alternate medical diagnosis for a symptomatic close contact should no longer be accepted for return to school when said contact meets the COVID-19 exclusion criteria.
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Due to this newly released guidance, we will be making additional changes to our OnCourse health questionnaire. Please be mindful that communication between home and school is extremely important and parental vigilance is key to keeping our families and community safe. Communication with your school nurse and alerting us to when your child is ill or a family member is being tested will help us protect our entire school community. Please be sure to review the information and links on our website or reach out to your building principal or school nurse with additional questions or concerns. We look forward to welcoming students back to hybrid instruction on January 11, 2021.
Regards,
Tiffany Boehm
Director of Student Support Services
