November 29, 2020
Dear WSD Families and Staff,
We hope you were able to relax over the last few days and find some creative ways to observe your favorite traditions within our challenging circumstances.
On November 13, Governor Scott’s Executive Order suspended multi-household social gatherings. The Order prohibits multiple households from participating in holiday events, parties, celebrations, and sharing accommodations with anyone other than the people they live with. At a recent press conference, Vermont Commissioner of Health Mark Levine said, “71% of the cases that are associated with an outbreak are associated with an outbreak from a private party or a social gathering.”
Vermonters have been asked to quarantine if they attend or host a multi-household gathering. By sending your student to school, or coming to work as a WSD employee, you are verifying that you are in compliance with the Governor’s order. As we mentioned earlier this week, we have updated our student and staff health screening to include confirming that individuals have not traveled out-of-state or attended a multi-family gathering. We expect families and staff to do the right thing and decide whether or not quarantine is necessary.
If quarantining is necessary the student or staff member must:
- Complete a 14-day quarantine or;
- Take a COVID-19 test on the first day after visiting with people from another household and take another test on day seven that are both negative.
If concerns arise about a student needing to quarantine and still being present at school, the WSD COVID-19 Co-Coordinators and/or principals will follow up with parents/guardians.
If you have any questions related to the need to quarantine for any of the following reasons, please call our COVID-19 hotline (802) 556-2243:
- If the member of the WSD community is symptomatic
- If the member of the WSD community has been a Close Contact to a COVID-19 positive person
- If the member of the WSD community engaged in Non-Essential Travel
- If the member of the WSD community has been to a Multi-Household Gathering
If your child needs to quarantine, be sure to let the school know what dates they will be out of school.
Many of us are disappointed to lose our traditional celebrations this year, but this is not going to last forever. Traveling or gathering with those outside of your household and not quarantining puts our community at risk and increases the possibility of having to close our schools and move to a fully remote learning model again.
We all want to keep our community safe and our students learning in-person to the greatest extent possible. Thank you for doing your part every day to prevent any further spread of this virus and helping us to keep our students, staff, and community safe.
Thank you,
Sean McMannon, Superintendent