Dear iLEAD families,
Here is the latest information on COVID-19 Vaccinations:
We know many of you have questions about how we will respond to the ongoing COVID pandemic, and we want to share our protocols, which are guided by federal, state, and county health guidelines.
Notification of Families
If a learner is confirmed to have been exposed to COVID-19, we will notify families as follows:
- Families of learners in classrooms where there has been exposure to a confirmed case of COVID-19 (learner or staff member) will be notified via a ParentSquare message with a formal letter from the school attached. All families will be asked to monitor their child(ren) for symptoms. This applies to all learners in class(es) with a confirmed exposure. Individual exposures (learners or staff) are not, and will not be, disclosed by name. A confirmed case can be a learner or an adult within the school population.
- Families of close contacts (i.e., person that has been within six feet of a confirmed case for a total of 15 minutes in a 24-hour period) will receive an additional phone call from school staff. We will notify you of the need to quarantine for 7-10 days. The notification will include the quarantine period and the date eligible to return to in-person instruction. The PCR test is the appropriate COVID-19 test to receive. Families will be instructed to notify the school of a positive test for their child(ren).
- Symptomatic learners should not attend school and should seek the advice of their medical professional and/or a COVID-19 test (PCR test). Learners who develop symptoms at school will be evaluated by school health staff and may be sent home for further monitoring/testing.
- Learners with confirmed COVID cases should isolate and follow the advice of their medical professional. Families should notify the school of their positive status to allow for additional contact tracing of classmates.
- Learners who test negative for COVID should follow the advice of their medical professional, but must remain in quarantine for the specified period.
- Symptomatic learners should not attend school and should seek the advice of their medical professional and/or a COVID-19 test (PCR test). Learners who develop symptoms at school will be evaluated by school health staff and may be sent home for further monitoring/testing.
Quarantine & Isolation Protocols
Following are our quarantine and isolation protocols:
- Isolation is for persons who are confirmed positive for COVID-19. These individuals should follow the advice of their medical professional and remain at home for a minimum of 10 days from the first day that symptoms begin. Individuals returning to school should be free of fever symptoms, without use of medication, and have improvement for symptoms overall.
- Quarantine is for unconfirmed symptomatic persons and for close contacts of confirmed cases. Close contacts are persons who are within six feet of a confirmed case for a total of 15 minutes in a 24-hour period.
- Quarantine for unvaccinated learners is 7-10 days.
- Learners who are not symptomatic at Day 5 may take a COVID (PCR) test. If the learner is asymptomatic (i.e., no symptoms) and has a negative COVID test result, the learner may return to school on Day 8.
- Learners who do not desire to test should remain at home for the full 10 days. If the learner becomes symptomatic during the 10 days, they should consult with a medical professional and confirm health status with a COVID (PCR) test.
- All quarantine and isolation protocols are required by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (LADPH).
Learning Continuity
To ensure that every learner has ongoing access to school, even while in isolation or quarantine, we will implement the following steps:
- Learners who are in isolation due to illness will take part in virtual learning with the classroom if they’re able to based on the level of their illness. Learners will be provided synchronous and asynchronous learning to maintain their grade-level learning work, if willing and able, until their return to campus/class. Materials and technology (as needed) will be provided to the learner. If a longer recovery period is needed, individual arrangements will be made for the learner to participate in grade-level learning.
- Learners who are in quarantine will participate in virtual learning. This will include both asynchronous and synchronous activities to allow the learner to maintain grade-level learning. Materials and technology will be provided to the learner. School staff will notify families of the virtual learning process for their learner(s).
We continue to encourage families to implement the Big 5 at school AND at home. This includes wearing a mask in indoor settings and social distancing whenever possible, as well as washing hands often, covering coughs and sneezes, and disinfecting regularly. By taking these precautions, we can limit the number of learners and staff who must quarantine (one or multiple times) during this school year. The frustration caused by lengthy or repeated quarantine periods is difficult for all of us, so we appreciate everyone’s help to ensure we stay in school.
If you have questions about this process, please do not hesitate to contact our office staff.
Take care,
Lisa Latimer
Director
