Gulf Beaches Elementary Magnet School issued the following announcement on Sep. 10.
**Covid Update**
We’re so lucky to be part of the Gulf Beaches family. Our school administrators, faculty and staff are doing so much to try to keep our kids safe and learning. They're working to be all things all the time right now as they deal with the impacts of Covid in addition to the educational mission that is their core job. So, here’s another update to hopefully provide perspective on how our school is handling things:
**The school is not waiting to hear back from the district Covid team to notify families of close contact with positive cases.**
- If a positive case is reported in your child’s class, school
administrators use the latest district guidance for “close contact” to determine who is likely impacted.
- Close contact is contact of 6 feet or less for 15 minutes or more, so various factors (line order, seating charts, etc.) help determine who should be notified.
- Based on trends so far, approximately 5-6 kids are affected by each positive case, though some result in less, some in more.
**If your child has potential close contact exposure, the school will call you to have you pick up your child if possible, and give you as much detail as they can to determine when you should have your child tested, what the timeline for return likely is, etc.**
- As a reminder, the district is following the decision tree available here: https://www.pcsb.org/site/handlers/filedownload.ashx...
- You will also get a letter from the Department of Health with this guidance, but since there are delays, our administrators are doing what they can to be proactive about notifications.
- Because our administrators are notifying before they receive “official” word, there may be discrepancies, but they are doing their best to follow the information they have available.
**School-wide notifications are not being sent.**
- If your child is affected, the school will contact you. Not notifying broadly is not an effort to hide information, it’s an effort to find a balance of sharing with those who need to know and not unnecessarily causing concern with those who are not affected. Please understand that just because someone else in your child’s class is out doesn’t mean your child was exposed. And please don’t rely on secondhand information – if you have significant concerns, call the school for clarification.
**The school staff has been affected by positive cases since the beginning of the school year, which means temporary teacher changes.**
- Ours is a small school. That means having staff out for extended unplanned absences has ripple effects – the school is using substitutes, plus other teachers, plus administrators to fill the gaps. - If someone isn't as responsive as you'd hope, please be patient -- they're juggling lots right now, and are trying!
** If you’re not already, please consider having your children wear a mask to school.**
- The school is using a layered approach to mitigation efforts, and masks are not the cure for everything, but they did seem to help slow the spread of illness last year, and the district and school – as well as local hospitals who are feeling the strain of increasing pediatric cases from both Covid-19 and RSV – are strongly encouraging mask wearing. Even if most children who get the virus have mild symptoms, positive cases are resulting in quarantine, which means kids aren’t in school learning and some parents are then unable to work.
** Please refrain from comments/discussion here. DM our PTA inbox or call the school. We’ll share back answers to common questions.**
Thank you!
Original source can be found here.
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