Changes to Face Mask Guide
February 9, 2022
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SLP families:
Last evening, the Spring Lake Park Schools board took action to revise the district’s Face Mask Decision-Making Guide. The revisions simplify the guidance and align criteria for face masks at grades preK-12 using school-based data. The revised Face Mask Decision-Making Guide will take effect at the end of day, February 25, and will be in place through the end of the school year, June 9, 2022.
The guide aligns the criteria for grades preK-6 with grades 7-12. At grades 7-12, there are essentially no changes to the current practice. As we experienced in January, face masks will be required on a temporary basis when/if COVID-related absences exceed a critical threshold. Note these key points for preK-12 moving forward:
- School-based data will guide masking protocols school-by-school. County-level transmission levels have not reflected our school experience. School-based experiences and data will now be the only metric to guide school-by-school masking protocols.
- Face masks will be required when a school exceeds 5 percent absences due to COVID-19. If/when any school reaches a critical threshold of 5 percent of staff and students absent due to COVID-19 or COVID-like symptoms, masks will be required at that school for at least a week. Face masks continue to be strongly recommended at times of high transmission in our community.
- Data will be reviewed each Friday. If the weekly data indicate a need, masks would be required for the following week. Data review and changes would be made on a week-by-week basis. We also will continue to update numbers on the COVID-19 hub weekly.
As a result of this action, we will consider family requests to move to/from SLP Schools Online K-6 now rather than at the trimester. Requests must be made by Monday, February 14 and sent to enrollment@district16.org.
Any requests to change learning model will be effective through the end of the school year. As students move between learning models, staff may also need to transition. We need until February 25 to assess requests and work through potential impacts to both online and in-person classrooms. If there are few requests, we would consider implementing the updated guidance earlier and would communicate any change to the timeline in advance.
Members of the school board and I have heard from many varied perspectives on this topic. With these updates, we’ve sought balance. Having criteria in place for the use of face masks provides a measure of security in times of high impact and loosens restrictions in times of less impact. All of our actions continue to prioritize safe in-person learning at school.
Over the last few weeks, I’ve spent time in each of our schools interacting with staff and students. Face masks haven’t been the focus in our classrooms. Learning has been, as it should be, front and center. I continue to be so proud of our staff and their work to keep learning engaging, relevant and fun for students. I share my thanks for each of them and for you and your continued support of learning and our schools.
Thank you,
Jeff Ronneberg, Ed.D.
Superintendent
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