SaberSpeak
Special Edition: Summit County Is Purple - Now What?
St. Hilary Will Resume In Person December 7 - Please Keep In Touch
As we shared yesterday, Summit County has moved to Risk Level 4 – Purple in the Ohio Public Health Advisory System for COVID-19. However, this designation alone does not require schools to close, and at this time, our plan is to remain open for in-person learning as long as we are able to safely do so. We will resume in person on Monday, December 7 as planned. We believe students need the opportunity to be in school, and our simultaneous learning option provides the best of both worlds during this time. Should the situation in our school community change, we are prepared to move to remote learning immediately.
In the meantime, we need you to keep in touch with us.
* COVID-19 IN YOUR HOME: If your child or a member of your household has tested positive for COVID-19, has been tested and is awaiting results, has been exposed to a COVID-19 positive individual (in your home or elsewhere), or has even slight COVID-19 symptoms, you must contact Mrs. Woodman at jwoodman@st-hilary.org immediately to discuss arrangements for your child.
* MOVING TO REMOTE LEARNING: Additionally, if you would like your child to move from in-person to remote learning, you are welcome to communicate that to Mrs. Woodman at jwoodman@st-hilary.org and Mrs. Alexander at dalexander@st-hilary.org at any time.
We will, of course, continue to be extremely vigilant at school and ask that you do the same at home. We are at a critical time to keep our students and staff safe and healthy. Please continue to make good decisions to ensure that we can continue offering both in-person and distance learning options to our school families. Our decisions now will impact our success later. It could take only one trip, one gathering, one sleepover, or one play date to force us to have to make some tough decisions. Your support of our efforts during this time is more important than ever.
Changes for In-Person Students
With the move to purple, health officials are recommending that masks be worn both indoors and outdoors when around others. Our students will be wearing masks outdoors during recess. Because cold winter air and warm breath make damp masks, it is important that every student have multiple masks at school each day. If you would like to designate one mask just to be worn for recess, that is fine, but please make sure your child has enough masks with him or her at school to have a clean, dry mask at all times during the school day. Wet masks are not only uncomfortable but also ineffective, and masks are a key component of our ability to curb illness in our school. In addition, students will be required to wear masks during P.E. classes even during physical activity. In our foreign language classes, we have allowed students to wear shields to aid with pronunciation, but we will moving to masks during these classes as well. As always, students will still receive mask breaks and we will reassess all protocols as the situation changes.
EXTRA VIGILANCE ABOUT SYMPTOMS
It is becoming increasingly common to hear stories of individuals with symptoms they thought were "just a little cold" or "just something they ate" that turned out to be COVID-19. Therefore, we are asking you to be even more vigilant about awareness of symptoms in your home and assume that, unless attributable to a diagnosed pre-existing condition as we have discussed since August, even slight symptoms could be COVID-19. It is very important that we exclude sickness from our school if we are to continue to provide an in-person learning option. As Summit County Health Commissioner Donna Skoda has said, it is important to begin isolation at the first sign of the slightest symptom in order to truly curb spread.
DROP OFF TEMPERATURE CHECKS
It is December and it is cold! Please be sure that your child(ren) do the following as you pull up into the drop off line: turn your heat down in the car, unzip or loosen coats, take off hats, and take off gloves. This to ensure that we can get an accurate temperature check on your child(ren). Thank you!
BUSING UPDATES
All of the buses that transport our students from Copley-Fairlawn, Revere, Highland, and Woodridge are still running their routes for us at this time.
New CDC Quarantine Guidelines
The CDC recently issued guidance that provides options for shortening the COVID-19 quarantine period. The CDC guidelines state that state and local agencies may or may not adopt these new guidelines based on conditions in those communities. The Ohio Department of Health (ODH) today announced its adoption of the guidelines as a way to strengthen the concept of quarantine by reducing the burden of quarantining and improving compliance. However, ODH also stated that the original 14-day quarantine period is still the safest. As of today, Summit County Public Health (SCPH) is still reviewing the new CDC guidelines. We continue to await word as to whether SCPH will adopt these guidelines. We are also awaiting guidance from the Diocese of Cleveland. Until we are told otherwise, the 14-day quarantine period remains in effect at St. Hilary School.
Click the buttons below to see SCPH’s COVID-19 information and the new CDC quarantine guidelines.
Quarantine vs. Isolation
Isolation - COVID-19 positive individuals required to self-isolate should have their own separate bedroom and bathroom (if possible). If separate spaces cannot be designated, it is recommended that sanitizing is done continuously. It has been recommended that individuals self-isolate at the onset of the slightest potential COVID-19 symptoms to prevent spread.
Protocol Reminders
Our school policies are a little stricter in some instances than what has been issued by the CDC, ODH and SCPH. This is intentional to exclude sickness from our building so that we can continue to offer an in-person learning option. Click the button below to see our COVID-19 information.
In general, please keep the following protocols in mind:
An individual with COVID-19 symptoms should stay at home and not go to gatherings or work to limit potential spread. Students with COVID-19 symptoms are asked to stay home and not return to school until they are 72 hours symptom-free.
Please notify school administration ASAP if you or your child(ren) are COVID-19 positive or have been exposed to a COVID-19 positive individual. You should also notify the health department of your positive results or call them for clarification if needed.
If any person in your household is getting tested for COVID-19, our policy is that you do not send your child(ren) to school.
If exposed to a COVID-19 positive individual (for more than 15 minutes and less than 6 feet a part) you should immediately begin to quarantine for 14 days after your last exposure to the positive individual. Quarantine includes staying home and masking when social distance is not possible. This could prevent potential spread within the household.
An individual who tests positive should immediately begin to isolate for 10 days from his/her first symptom or positive test result if asymptomatic or after 24 hours of being symptom-free. SHS requires 72 hours symptom-free. Isolation includes having a separate bedroom, bathroom, floor of a house, if possible, and staying completely a part from those in your household. Family members are encouraged to mask in the house when social distancing is not possible.
Click here for guidance on when a COVID-19 positive individual can safely be around others again.
Travel Advisory States
As we clarified in our August 28 SaberSpeak Special Edition, we are requiring students to self-quarantine for 14 days after visiting states that have a 15% or more COVID-19 positivity rate.
As of December 2, Ohio has now been added to the group of states with 15% or more COVID-19 positivity. Technically, this means that if your family will be traveling from Ohio to another state, you should quarantine for two weeks prior to travel. We also realize you may think that because Ohio is now in the 15%+ COVID-19 positivity group it does not matter if your family travels to another 15%+ COVID-19 positivity state. However, quarantining after travel to one of these states will still be required as an additional line of defense for our school.
Again, this is an extra precaution and we know this could impact travel plans. If your children are learning in-person, we are asking you to respect this decision and plan accordingly. Students who are required to quarantine after traveling to a state (or country) with a 15% or higher COVID-19 positivity rate will be required to distance learn for the 14 days.
Click here for the current list and map of Travel Advisory states.