(updated 1/19/2022)
As always, the health and safety of our students is top priority.
With the rise in Covid cases due to Omicron, please be vigilant by keeping sick children home. Y'all have done an amazing job so far this year, and we appreciate your continued efforts in keeping our school as healthy as possible.
This variant may have us navigating new waters, so please be patient and understanding as some protocols may need to change.
If our school needs to close due to lack of staff or an extensive outbreak, you will be contacted via email.
Masks: ACH staff will be required to wear a mask or face shield during the school day. Parents and caregivers are encouraged to do so while in the building.
Teachers may wear a face shield when reading a book or teaching a phonics lesson. This is for language development purposes. Teachers who test positive and return after 5 days, will not be able to wear a face shield until they are 10 days out from the start of symptoms.
Teachers will have the option to wear a mask or not once Williamson County has entered yellow or moderate phase OR LISD moves to masks optional for teachers.
It is your choice on whether or not you would like your child to wear a mask during the day. If you are sending your child to school in a mask, please communicate with your child's teachers on your expectations for mask wearing, and they will help carry it out to the best of their ability. Consider purchasing a mask lanyard to help keep your child's mask off the tables during lunch/snack and from possibly falling on the floor. I encourage you to work with your child on putting on and taking off their mask as well as wearing a mask for an extended period of time prior to the start date of school.
Vaccine: Per Governor Abbott's order, we can not require staff members to get vaccinated. At this time, the State of Texas has not added the COVID-19 vaccination to the required immunizations. Staff members are not required to disclose if they have or have not received the Covid-19 vaccination.
Notifications: You will be notified via email if your child’s class has an exposure to COVID-19.
Signs and Symptoms: Please be vigilant about your health, your families health as well as the health of the people around you. We all have to work together as a team to make this year successful and keep our kids learning. The following are signs and symptoms that we need to keep close eye on to prevent the spread of Covid-19.
· Cough
· Shortness of breath
· Chills
· Repeated shaking and chills
· Muscle Pain
· Headache
· Sore throat
· Congestion or runny nose
· Loss of taste or smell
· Diarrhea
· Feeling feverish or measured temperature of 100.0 degrees F or above
· Known close contact with a person who is lab confirmed to have Covid-19
If anyone in your home is exhibiting symptoms or in general not feeling well, please keep your child home from school and notify your child's teacher and director. This will help reduce the number of exposure that we have in our school.
Out of an abundance of caution, we will be sending children home from school if they are exhibiting multiple symptoms even if they are fever free. A doctor's note to confirm allergies vs. Covid may be requested.
Exposure: Students or staff members who have reported close contact/ direct exposure with a person who has Covid-19, while not wearing a mask, will be encouraged to:
-stay home and quarantine for 5 days
-monitor for symptoms consistent with COVID-19-
- test or continue to stay home (5 days for staff/ 10 for students) if symptoms occur
It will remain your choice on whether or not you will send your child to school if there has been an exposure in the classroom. (Aligns with LISD policy)
If you become symptomatic, stay home, test, or seek guidance from a medical professional on what the next steps should be.
If the direct exposure is a person in the household where constant contact is unavoidable where the COVID positive person cannot isolate, we encourage you to:
-keep your child home for 5 days
-have your child tested and receive a negative result before returning to school.
Student Positive Test: The child will be asked to stay home and can return to ACH once all the following are met:
-10 days out from the start of the symptoms
-Fever free for 24 hours without fever-reducing medication
-Symptoms have improved.
Staff Positive Test: (Change per CDC guidelines and LISD policy) The staff member will be asked to stay home and can return to ACH once all the following are met:
-5 days out from the start of the symptoms
-Fever free for 24 hours without fever-reducing medication
-Symptoms have improved
-Staff member is feeling well enough to return
The staff member will be required to wear a mask upon return until 10 days from the start of symptoms.
Research, backed by CDC, is showing that a person can test positive without being able to transmit the virus for up to 3 months after the original diagnosis. “Patients who have recovered from COVID-19 can continue to have detectable SARS-CoV-2 RNA in upper respiratory specimens for up to 3 months after illness onset. However, replication-competent virus has not been reliably recovered and infectiousness is unlikely.” -CDC. Students or staff members who contracted Covid do not need to receive a negative test to return to school after the 5 or 10 day period.
Additional Measures: We will continue with cleaning and disinfecting protocols throughout the day and will repeat this process on toys and frequently touched surfaces again at the end of each day. A cleaning crew will come once a week on Fridays. Handwashing is one of our best preventive measures. We will continue frequent handwashing per CDC guidelines.
The church installed touchless soap and paper towel dispensers as well as hand sanitizer dispensers which are located by the front and back doors of the school. Thank you CPFUMC!
ACH Families, you are our first line of defense against Covid-19 in our school. If you are questioning whether or not you should send your child to school because of not feeling well or a family member is not feeling well, please consider keeping them home for the day to watch for additional symptoms. This is a team effort and we are blessed with amazing families and teachers to work with during this time.
