Superintendent Community Update, January 12, 2022

 

Dear Families,

 

We appreciate all of your efforts to keep our staff and students safe and schools open. We wanted to take this moment to provide you with updates regarding measures we have implemented in order to navigate this COVID spike with the onset of Omicron. 

Our Human Resources department has hired 27 additional substitute teaching staff during the 2021-22 school year.  This strategy has worked well as we have had enough substitutes and other staff to cover any vacancies we have had in classrooms. 

We added an additional testing day for staff and extended the hours of our Friday testing clinic.  We realize these slots have filled up very quickly and that we have a need for more.  At this time, however, the company we are contracting with cannot commit to additional testing clinics in BUSD. When we have multiple positive cases in one classroom, we will work to provide on site testing for those classes. Parents will need to sign a consent through a link that will be sent through Parent Square if this is needed.  We are also linking alternate testing sites here for your convenience: Solano County – COVID-19 Vaccines.  

Before winter break, we sent home the testing kits that were allotted to BUSD for all staff and students. This strategy was extremely effective in limiting positive cases upon the return to school on January 6, 2022.  We have provided N95 or KN95 masks to all staff who want them and will continue to do so.  It is vitally important that students continue to wear a snug fitting mask that securely fits over the nose and mouth.  Medical masks are more effective than cloth masks, and properly fitted N-95 or KN95 masks are more effective than medical masks. Students may also choose to wear a cloth mask over a medical mask to help with the seal.

 We understand that some may be wondering if we are going to close schools.  Please know BUSD plans to keep our schools open and will do everything we can in that regard, doing so in a manner that follows CDPH guidelines.  The law that allowed for distance learning ended last school year and does not allow for that option this year unless a situation presented itself where insufficient staff were available to run schools and all options were fully exhausted.   

As a follow-up to the communication we sent out Monday, please see the charts below with a detailed explanation of the new CDPH guidelines as they related to the quarantine protocols.

As always, we appreciate your partnership in keeping our schools open and staff and students healthy.  

 

Sincerely,  

Charles F. Young, Ed.D.

Superintendent 

 

 

Anyone Testing Positive for COVID-19
Persons Who Test Positive for COVID-19 (Isolation)	Recommended Action
All  regardless of vaccination status or symptoms	Quarantine for at least 5 days. Isolation can end after day 5 if symptoms are not present or are resolving and an antigen test taken on day 5 is negative If unable to test or choosing not to test, and symptoms are not present or are resolving, isolation can end after day 10. If fever is present, isolation should be continued until fever resolves. If symptoms, other than fever, are not resolving, continue to isolate until symptoms are resolving or until after day 10. Wear a well-fitting mask around others for a total of 10 days, especially in indoor settings

 

*Close Contact Exposure to a Positive Person with  COVID-19–Not Fully Vaccinated
Persons Who are Exposed to Someone with COVID-19 (Quarantine)	Recommended Action
Persons Who are Exposed to Someone with COVID-19 (Quarantine)  Unvaccinated; OR  Not Fully Vaccinated   *Close contact is defined as being within 6 feet of someone who is positive for more than 15 minutes in 24 hours.	Quarantine for at least 5 days, after your last contact with a person who has COVID-19.Test on day 5, if negative, can return on day 6. Student wears a well-fitting mask around others for a total of 10 days. If unable to test or choosing not to test, and symptoms are not present, quarantine can end after day 10. Refrain from participating in extracurricular activities for 10 days. Strongly encouraged to get vaccinated or boosted. If testing positive, follow isolation recommendations above. If symptoms develop, test and stay home.

 

*Close Contact Exposure to a Positive Person with  COVID-19–Fully Vaccinated
Persons Who are Exposed to Someone with COVID-19 (No Quarantine)	Recommended Action
Persons Who are Exposed to Someone with COVID-19 (No Quarantine)   *Close contact is defined as being within 6 feet of someone who is positive for more than 15 minutes in 24 hours.	Continue to come to school as long as you have no symptoms. Recommended test on day 5.  Wear a well-fitting mask around others for 10 days, especially in indoor settings If testing positive, follow isolation recommendations above. If symptoms develop, test and stay home.