August 31, 2021
Dear Parents and Guardians,
We are so excited to be welcoming students back to in-person learning tomorrow, Sept 1! This email is a reminder of our health protocols as we start the year and information on the virtual academy option if that is of interest to you.
HEALTH PROTOCOLS FOR FALL 2021
All adults and students are required to wear a mask indoors starting the first day of school. No one may be in the buildings as we open schools unless they are wearing a mask. A student who refuses to wear a mask will be sent home and marked absent. The mask is a basic dress code requirement at this time. A mask is also required on bus transportation, as it is a federal transportation mandate. Masks must meet the guidance put out by the CDC. Check it out here (Your Guide to Masks | CDC)
In addition to masking indoors, we will have handwashing stations as students enter the building and will continue to wash hands throughout the day. We continue to clean the schools daily.
Please monitor your child each day for symptoms. We will not be doing the formal health screenings that were in place last year; however, if a child arrives with symptoms of illness, s/he will be isolated and the parent will be called to pick them up. Symptoms of covid include: fever, cough, shortness of breath, sore throat, headache, runny nose, nausea, vomiting diarrhea, fatigue, muscle aches, loss of smell or taste. Even mild symptoms must stay home.
If a positive case occurs in the school environment, we will do the same contact tracing as last year. This means we will assess if any child or adult was within 6 feet of the person with a positive case for 15 minutes or more. We then must assess the vaccination status of that person to know if they need to quarantine. We will consult with the VT Dept of Health through this process. Please be aware it is possible that a class will be put into quarantine for a while if that is what is deemed to be necessary to stop transmission. Thus, we are once again giving every child a Chromebook upon signed permission of their parent.
For more information on COVID identification and the steps we need to take, please see this Dept of Health Factsheet:
https://www.healthvermont.gov/... ss.pdf
In addition, you are invited to join the OVUU School Board at 6pm tomorrow, Sept 1, to hear directly from Dr. Becca Bell, Pediatrician and president of the American Academy of Pediatricians- VT. This session will be virtual, hosted by the OVUU board from the OV library at their Sept 1 board meeting starting at 6pm. The session will be recorded and sent out on Friday.
The link for this session is:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/8705...
Meeting ID: 870 5854 7737
Passcode: Za5Mcp
One tap mobile
+19292056099,,87058547737#,,,,*586864# US (New York)
VIRTUAL LEARNING APPLICATION DEADLINE SEPT 3
EdOptions Virtual Learning Applications are due to your school by Sept. 3 at 3 pm. Virtual Academy will start the next week. You can watch the recordings on the rnesu.org web page or paste this link into your browser: https://rutlandnortheastsuvt.s...
Here is the application for the Virtual Academy, due 3pm Sept. 3 to your school. RNESU Virtual Learning Application and Compact.docx
Enjoy the first day of school! We’ve got this!
Sincerely,
Jeanné Collins, Superintendent of RNESU
Cc: All RNESU Staff