Dear WSD Students, Families, and Staff,
We hope you are enjoying the break. We look forward to welcoming all of our students back for in-person learning on Monday, January 3. To keep everyone safe and our schools open, please remember the following:
Stay Home When Sick
Do not send your child to school if they have any COVID symptoms. For staff, do not come to work in person if you have any COVID symptoms. These include:
- Cough
- Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing
- Fatigue
- Muscle or body aches
- Headache
- New loss of taste or smell
- Sore throat
- Congestion or runny nose
- Nausea or vomiting
- Diarrhea
When in doubt, call the WSD COVID-19 hotline at 802-556-2243 to discuss your symptoms with our COVID Coordinators.
Free Take-Home Kits
Consider taking advantage of free take-home rapid tests before returning to school. There will be testing kits available for Winooski students in the WSD parking lot on Thursday, December 30 from 7am-10am and then again from 3pm- 6pm. Sign up for either time slot here: https://humanresources.vermont.gov/student-test-schools. Walk-ups will be available. Read about how and when to conduct these tests efficiently.
Surveillance Testing
On Monday, January 3 our district will be offering surveillance testing. Surveillance testing is mandatory for all basketball student-athletes and is open to everyone regardless of vaccination status.
Test-to-Stay
Our district will also be ready to offer Test to Stay (TTS) if necessary. This response testing program will keep unvaccinated students who are deemed close contacts of a COVID positive person in school learning rather than missing school due to quarantine requirements. Sign up for TTS here: wsdvt.org/test-to-stay/
The COVID Vaccine
Getting vaccinated will keep you and your child safe and healthy, and help stop the spread of COVID-19 in our community. If we can raise our district’s vaccination rate among students to 80% it will enable us to focus our resources on other important work. All school staff should be eligible for a booster shot now as well. Find a local clinic to get your or your child’s FREE 1st, 2nd, and booster doses!
Winter Sports
Middle School Basketball is slated to return next week. There will be no practices until January 6. This will allow all student-athletes to test and get results back from our mandatory surveillance testing. There will be no games until January 10.
Lastly, we are incredibly grateful for the dedication of our talented and caring staff, our amazing and inspiring students, and the support of the families who entrust us to provide a safe and nurturing learning environment for their children each day. We wish all of you a happy, healthy new year!
See you next week!
Sincerely,
Emily Hecker, Communications Director