Northern New England Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, Inc. 479 Main Street
Westbrook, ME 04092
(207) 797-3760 phone
207-797-2851 fax
Dear Parents and Faculty,
Happy new school year! It is always exciting to begin a new year, with the school sparkling, and classrooms ready for our students. We are grateful that we seem to be in a better place with COVTD this year and are hoping that we all can experience some sense of normalcy for our kids.
COVID guidelines for schools have changed this year due to many factors. After consulting faculty and reviewing the recommend changes by the CDC, the administration is updating the guidelines for the 2022:2023 school year. The two most important changes are that masks will no longer be required, but will be optional, no matter what the color status is for each county. The only exceptions are if a student or faculty member has COVID, or if they have a family member who is COVTD positive.
The other major change is that if students or faculty have a family member who has COVID, they will no longer be required to quarantine, but will need to wear a mask at school for the ten-day period as recommended by the CDC to reduce the risk of spreading CO YID in the classroom. If after day five from first exposure, they have a negative COVID test and are symptom free, they will not need to wear a mask for the full ten days. The goal since the beginning of the pandemic has been to do our part to prevent the spread of COY TD and to keep our kids in school.
All students and faculty who are sick will still need to stay home. Students and faculty should get tested if they have two or more symptoms of CO YID before returning to school. If testing is not desired, then we are requesting that anyone who has two or more symptoms of CO YID treat the illness as though they are positive and follow the same guidelines for COVID-positive individuals.
Per CDC guidelines, if a student or faculty member tests positive for CO YID while sick, they must continue to isolate at home through day five from the onset of symptoms. In other words, if a student has already been home for three days sick, and tests positive for COVlD on day three, they will need to stay home for the additional two days. If symptoms have improved and they are fever free for 24 hours without fever reducing medications, they may return to school after day five, but will need to wear a mask through day ten from the onset of symptoms. If tested negative, they may return to school sooner than the five-day isolation period, providing they are fever free for 24 hours without fever reducing medications, and do-not need to wear a mask.
If there is an outbreak in a classroom or school, it wi II be left up to the school administration as to whether the school or classroom needs to be shut down for a few days. However, if there is an outbreak and school remains in session, please consider at a minimum wearing masks for a few days in order to minimize the spread of COVID.
In order to keep you updated, below is the link for the CDC recommendations for schools, as well as information about the color-coded guidelines by county, and the symptoms of the current variants of COVID.
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/your-bealth/covid-by-county.html
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/schools-childcare/k-12-childcare-guidance.html
We thank you for all that you have done to keep our kids in school. We are grateful and feel blessed to have such wonderful faculty, parents, and students. Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions.
Blessings,
ADCOM