NHPS
Students and staffers will have the option of getting tested weekly for Covid-19 under an updated school reopening plan.
NHPS Asst. Superintendent Paul Whyte Monday night announced that and other elements of an updated version of the Safe Return to In-Person Instruction and Continuity of Services Plan. He did so in a presentation to the New Haven Board of Education during its regular Monday meeting.
The first draft of the reopening plan was posted on the NHPS website June 23. (Read the newly updated plan here.) The plan must be updated at least every six months per federal requirements.
Zoom Screenshot
Monday’s Board of Ed meeting.
Superintendent Iline Tracey said NHPS is waiting for the governor to issue more guidelines around schools reopening in the fall before making some important decisions..
Under the newly revised plan, each school will offer weekly appointment based testing on site available to students and staff. The schools sites will use the lower nasal swab PCR and not the “brain tickler” test for results to be provided within 24 hours after the test, said Whyte.
“Testing is going to be key,” said BOE member Tamiko Jackson-McArthur. “And it doesn’t hurt.”
NHPS is working with the Health Department to offer additional diagnostic sites to be open weekly off site to keep those exhibiting symptoms or with exposure concerns from coming to the schools for the testing.
Board members encouraged the district to promote the painless method of testing to families as the start of the school year approaches without a vaccination mandate.
In the coming weeks, NHPS will also partner with the Health Department to continue hosting vaccine clinics for eligible students and staff leading up to start of the school year.
The process for contact tracing will remain the same as last year’s plan. (Read protocol plan here.) School nurses will conduct the tracing for students and make the advisements for individual(s) need to quarantine. Dedicated contract tracers will be hired for schools to do staff tracing.
The schools’ contact tracing process involves an interview to make case-by-case determinations of close contacts exposed to infected individuals, Whyte said. The district is still working on the details for determining those close contacts during contact tracing cases in schools and on buses.
The plan has also been updated to include that quarantining students will resume instruction remotely. To receive and complete their classwork each day students will be required to log in. Every NHPS student will receive a computer device at the start of the school year, and all teachers will maintain a Google Classroom account with daily remote work for those quarantined.
In the event of a “high emergency” causing another in-person closure based on Department of Health indicators, families will be notified and full remote learning activated. The plan notes that in this circumstance 37 buildings will remain open to prepare and distribute meals districtwide.
Whyte noted that the plan’s health strategies will also limit school’s bathroom occupancy, eliminate students usage of lockers, and stock schools with hand sanitizer.
School in-person and virtual orientations begin as soon as next week. (Find the full schedule here.)
Watch the full meeting below.