*COVID-19
COVID-19 Guidance for Schools:
Isolation and exposure guidance and protocols:
Guidance for Children and Staff in Child Care, K-12, OST, and Recreational Camp Settings:
- Quarantine is no longer required nor recommended for children or staff in these settings, regardless of vaccination status or where the exposure occurred. All exposed individuals may continue to attend programming as long as they remain asymptomatic. Those who can mask should do so until Day 10, and it is recommended that they test on Day 6 of exposure. If symptoms develop, follow the guidance for symptomatic individuals, below.
- Children and staff who test positive must isolate for at least 5 days. If they are asymptomatic or symptoms are resolving and they have been fever free without the use of fever-reducing medicine for 24 hours, they may return to programming after Day 5 and should wear a high-quality mask through Day 10:
- If the individual is able to mask, they must do so through Day 10.
- If the child has a negative test on Day 5 or later, they do not need to mask.
- If the individual is unable to mask, they may return to programming with a negative test on Day 5 or later.
- If the individual is able to mask, they must do so through Day 10.
- Symptomatic individuals can remain in their school or program if they have mild symptoms, are tested immediately onsite, and that test is negative. Best practice would also include wearing a mask, if possible, until symptoms are fully resolved. For symptomatic individuals, DPH recommends a second test within 48 hours if the initial test is negative.
- If the symptomatic individual cannot be tested immediately, they should be sent home and allowed to return to their program or school if symptoms remain mild and they test negative, or they have been fever-free for 24 hours without the use of fever-reducing medication and their symptoms are resolving, or if a medical professional makes an alternative diagnosis. A negative test is strongly recommended for return.
COVID-19 symptomsCOVID-19 Symptoms for Child Care, K-12, OST, and Recreational Camps
- Fever (100.0° Fahrenheit or higher), chills, or shaking chills
- Difficulty breathing or shortness of breath
- New loss of taste or smell
- Muscle aches or body aches
- Cough (not due to other known cause, such as chronic cough)
- Sore throat, when in combination with other symptoms
- Nausea, vomiting, when in combination with other symptoms
- Headache, when in combination with other symptoms
- Fatigue, when in combination with other symptoms
- Nasal congestion or runny nose (not due to other known causes, such as allergies), when in combination with other symptoms
Important Practices to Prevent Further Spread of the Virus
- Please report all cases of COVID-19 to the School Nurse.
- If feeling unwell or experiencing symptoms of COVID-19, stay home and perform a rapid home test for COVID-19.
- Hand Hygiene
- Wash hands frequently with soap and running water for 20 seconds.
- When soap and water are not available, alcohol based hand sanitizer (60% ethanol or 70% isopropanol) may be used.
*FYI ... For hand sanitizer to be effective, it should take 20 seconds of rubbing your hands together for hands to be dry. If it takes less time, you are using
too little; if it takes more time, you are using too much.
- Keep hands away from the face, particularly the eyes, nose, and mouth
- Cough and/or sneeze into a tissue or the inner elbow
- Stay at home when you are sick - Please use the following list of Covid-19 symptoms provided by Massachusetts
Department of Public Health to guide your decision:
If your child has any of the following symptoms your child must not come to school. Please notify the school nurse for guidance regarding the protocol for symptomatic students, and contact your child's primary care provider. Below is the full list of symptoms for which caregivers should monitor their children, and staff should monitor themselves:
- Fever (100.0° Fahrenheit or higher), chills, or shaking chills
- Difficulty breathing or shortness of breath
- New loss of taste or smell
- Muscle aches or body aches
- Cough (not due to other known cause, such as chronic cough)
- Sore throat, when in combination with other symptoms
- Nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea when in combination with other symptoms
- Headache when in combination with other symptoms
- Fatigue, when in combination with other symptoms
- Nasal congestion or runny nose (not due to other known causes, such as allergies) when in combination with other
symptoms
Under normal circumstances, many of these symptoms would not warrant staying home from school. Due to the seriousness of Covid-19 and how easily it can spread from one person to another, the criteria for keeping your child home from school includes even what may appear very mild symptoms. Because of this, we expect and understand that there will be more students not present in the building on any given day than in a typical school year. If your child does not feel well before school, please do not send your child to school. If your child needs to take Acetaminophen (Tylenol) or Ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin) for any of the symptoms listed above, he/she must stay home. Until their effects have worn off, these medications can mask the signs of further development of symptoms, putting other students and faculty at risk of potential exposure. Reasons for keeping your child home are not limited to the list above. Your child may not complain of symptoms, but you may notice that something just isn't quite right, you are empowered to base the decision of whether or not your child comes to school on your ever valuable parental intuition and judgement.
Please develop a strong and effective dismissal plan for your family, in the event that your child feels unwell during the school day. In order to reduce the risk of exposure (to your child and to others), you should always have a responsible adult available to pick up your child promptly in the event that they become ill during the school.
Thank you for helping to keep our school and our community safe!
Children & Facial Coverings
There may be times when students will wear facial coverings during school. Wearing facial coverings can be difficult for children, especially at first. Although it can be difficult, even the youngest of our students have shown us that they can wear facial coverings successfully when necessary. Here are some tips ...
1. Explain to your child in simple terms, that some people in school (teachers and/or students) will be wearing facial
coverings to help keep each other healthy. Explain that facial coverings help us to keep our germs inside our masks, so
we don't spread them to others, which could make them sick.
2. Allow children to choose a facial covering with a design or pattern of their choice (coverings with ear loops are
preferred for children), or help them to personalize a plain one (while being mindful not to attach any small
objects that could present a choking hazard). For younger children, it may be helpful to place a facial covering on a
favorite stuffed animal, doll, or action figure, as well.
3. Help your child to spread the facial covering over the nose and mouth, and pull ear loops around the ears.
4. Show your child his/her reflection in the mirror and offer compliments about how he/she looks.
5. Have your child wear the facial covering for a short period of time while engaging in an activity he/she enjoys to distract
from the facial covering. Young children may only tolerate a few minutes initially. Keep track of the time, and set the
goal for the next day to be a little longer. Make each subsequent day an opportunity for your child to beat the record set
the day before. Make a game of it.
6. Offer age appropriate incentives and rewards for a job well done - some extra play time with Mom or Dad, do an arts &
crafts project together, play a favorite game together, read a story together, make a sticker chart, reward your child
with something that will inspire him/her. For older children, perhaps a few minutes of extra screen, phone, or TV time
may may appropriate.
7. The more your child practices, the more normal wearing a facial covering will be feel.
The following link will take you to a helpful article on children and facial coverings from the American Academy of Pediatrics: https://www.healthychildren.org/English/health-issues/conditions/COVID-19/Pages/Cloth-Face-Coverings-for-Children-During-COVID-19.aspx
*It is recommended that your child bring 2 clean facial coverings (labeled with his/her name) to school each day. Facial
coverings must be laundered between uses.
Flu Season
Students, faculty and staff are encouraged to receive the flu vaccine.