Westside's Covid-19 Safety Response Guidelines
Westside’s response preserves our goals of doing all we can to protect the health of our community as well as prioritizing consistent in-person learning. This is a rapidly evolving situation and may change again. Our Westside team has been working closely with our medical advisory group of physicians, as well as following the latest recommendations from the CDC and the Washington Dept. of Health. **All COVID-19 guidelines and expectations apply to INDIVIDUALS, not HOUSEHOLDS**
COVID-19 Tests: Per the guidelines below, if you need to provide a negative test, it must be an Antigen, Viral, or PCR COVID tests. We will not accept antibody tests.
Illness Policy
Students should not attend school when they have a contagious disease, diarrhea, a fever (100.4 or above), have been vomiting within the last 24 hours, have yellow-green mucus discharging from their nose, or when they are in the early stages of a cold. Please send your child back to school only after they are symptom-free and have had a normal temperature for 24 hours without medication. If a student becomes sick at school, their parents/guardians or a specified person will be called to take them home.
Please report all positive cases to school
|
Staff and parents of students and who test positive for COVID-19 should notify the school immediately upon receipt of the test results. Please email Pandemic Response Coordinator, Colleen McCullagh.
|
QUARANTINING FOR THOSE WHO HAVE TESTED POSITIVE
GRADE LEVEL CLUSTERS
If a single grade level has 3 or more positive cases in a 5 day period, our leadership team will meet to determine next steps. There is a possibility that we will shut down in-person learning in a single grade.
CLOSE CONTACT WITH SOMEONE WHO HAS TESTED POSITIVE
All students or staff who are identified as close contacts should abide by the following guidelines:
- All individuals who are identified as close contacts at school or home must wear a mask indoors for 10 days after last contact, and test at home after day 5. Westside will no longer be requiring that test results be submitted.
WESTSIDE POLICY FOR CLOSE CONTACT:
Westside will no longer quarantine an entire class or grade following a positive exposure. School will continue in person while the individual(s) who tested positive will stay home.
WHAT IS CLOSE CONTACT?
Close contact is defined as someone who was less than 3 feet away from an infected person for a cumulative total of 15 minutes or more over a 24-hour period. This definition applies regardless of whether the case or contact was wearing a mask.
CLOSE CONTACT AT SCHOOL
Washington Dept. of Health’s definition of close contact now excludes students and staff in a structured school setting with assigned seating who were at least three feet away from an infected individual when (a) both were appropriately wearing well-fitting face coverings/masks and (b) other prevention strategies were in place.
Our Westside staff will determine and inform you if your student was in close contact at school with a person who tested positive.