The safety of our students and staff continues to be a priority for Deer Park Schools. At this time, we do not plan to make any changes to our in-person learning model when we return from winter break, based on the announcement made by Superintendent Jay Phillips on December 17. You can read the full release here here.
Beginning January 4, 2022, we will return to school in a K-12 mask optional environment. This is also a mask friendly environment, as there will be times where students, staff, and visitors may choose masks, or be required to wear masks based on their individual circumstances due to the evolving COVID guidance. The District will continue to follow CDC and ODH guidelines, any state or federal orders, and county guidelines for COVID data reporting.
New CDC Isolation Guidelines:
Recent CDC changes to isolation and quarantine rules will be reflected in our practices, effective immediately. See new guidance here: https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2021/s1227-isolation-quarantine-guidance.html
If you test positive for COVID, isolate. Everyone, regardless of vaccination status, must:
• Stay home for five days from the positive test date (this is an official, lab-confirmed test and not a home test)
• Return to school If you have no symptoms or your symptoms are resolving after five days
• Continue to wear a mask properly at school for five additional days
What is not new:
If you were exposed to someone with COVID as a close contact at school:
• Mask to Stay, Test to Play
We ask you to continue to monitor your student daily, and should your student not feel well, please keep him/her home from school. We also ask that you continue to report any illness to your building’s attendance line, and any positive cases of COVID do need to be reported to our COVID Hotline at (513) 936-7843. We will continue to actively monitor the situation.
Our COVID reporting practices between families and schools will continue:
• If your child has symptoms, please keep him/her home.
• If your child has a fever of 100.4 or greater, please keep him/her home.
• If your child is waiting for COVID test results, please keep him/her home.
• If your child has had an exposure to COVID outside of the school day, please keep him/her home and reach out to your building nurse for guidance.
• If your family has traveled internationally to a country that is on the CDC Level 4 (Very High Risk) travel advisory list, please keep your child home and reach out to your building nurse for guidance for testing and quarantine information.
We will continue to monitor the evolving COVID news and data weekly. Our priority of in-person learning will continue to guide our decision making as we work together to ensure success. We appreciate the ongoing support from parents, staff, and especially our amazing students, as we navigate the remainder of the school year.