Hello, everyone. The attached COVID Mitigation Plan was approved by our Board of Education last night. The only real upcoming change relates to contact tracing. Parents will have three options when we have a school-related contact tracing event. Students who are close contacts will be able to either:

• attend school uninterrupted and monitor for any symptoms

• choose to quarantine

• choose to request rapid tests at school using our testing protocols

The plan will begin on Monday, November 29, 2021.

Dear High School Parents and Guardians,

Because suicide is the second leading cause of death among individuals between the ages of 10 and 34 (NIMH), we need to increase conversations surrounding mental health. Westwood High School teachers will be administering a seven-question online mental health screener to our students next week (week of November 29th). The survey was developed in cooperation with the University of Michigan TRAILS program and is not meant to be a diagnostic tool. Survey responses are confidential with the school counselor unless the student is at risk of hurting him/herself or others, or someone is hurting the student. Responses will be used to connect students with appropriate resources, as needed.

If you do not want your child to participate in the mental health screening, you may opt your child out by contacting the school counselor, Becky Halamka at (906) 485-1023 or halamkab@nice.k12.mi.us.

Additionally, please remember to mark your calendars for our suicide prevention/gatekeeper training (QPR) that will take place in the WHS Auditorium on Wednesday, December 1st at 6 pm. There will be childcare available for those who need it.

Information on the QPR training is below