Good afternoon NRCS families,

Over the last year and a half, as the district has worked through the COVID-19 pandemic, we made a commitment to the community to continuously monitor the situation in our schools and adjust our plans to provide the best learning environment for our students. As we have moved into the school year, we find ourselves at a point where we are needing to make the first adjustment to the plans that were shared prior to students returning to classes.

Beginning on Tuesday, September 7, 2021, we will be changing our masking guidance for students in grades Pre-K through 6 at the Early Childhood Learning Community, Liberty Elementary, Ranger High-Tech Academy, and the Academic Center. Masks will be required for all students in grades Pre-K through 6 while in school buildings. While the number of COVID-19 cases in the district remains relatively small, this change is necessitated by the increasing number of quarantines we are seeing in our classrooms in the Pre-K through 6 grade levels.

As was the practice last school year, students will be provided with regular mask breaks and may remove their mask during lunch while eating, recess, and physical activity.

These changes to the guidance are tentatively scheduled to remain in effect until October 1, 2021, but will be continually evaluated to determine if it should be shortened or lengthened.

For students in all other grades, we continue to strongly recommend vaccinations for anyone who can be and masking for all individuals who are not vaccinated. Vaccines are available free of charge at most local pharmacies and Lorain County Public Health offers walk-in service for this and other vaccinations. Lorain County Public Health is located at 9880 Murray Ridge Road in Elyria.

At this point in time, we are not seeing data that would require us to amend our current masking guidance for students in grades 7-12. Should this change in the future, we will not hesitate to make adjustments.

While we recognize this change will make some happy while frustrating others, we feel it is necessary to be able to keep students and staff in our classrooms so that we can continue to offer a high-quality education. Thank you in advance for your understanding and cooperation during this difficult time and we look forward to continuing the great things that are underway in the district.

Sincerely,

Roxann Ramsey-Caserio