Grant CCSD #110

11/13/2020

Dear Parents,

With the rise in COVID cases in our area and the reality of this virus impacting some members of our school community, I wanted to follow up with some information for all of you. I know there have been many questions about reporting, quarantine, and returning guidelines.

First, let me be clear that guidance for response is done on a case by case basis in conjunction with the experts at the local health department. Our staff is in communication with them almost daily regarding positivity rates in the area, symptom response, contact tracing, and quarantine. I know it can be frustrating that this is not a black and white, 1-2-3 response that applies to every situation. Guidance from IDPH, and the local health departments change frequently, and how we may have responded in August is not how we are direct to respond today.

Second, while the district wants to provide you with as much information as possible when we have a COVID situation, we still have to protect personal privacy under HIPAA. When we made the decision to send kindergarten full remote, many of you contacted the district asking for more detailed information about which class, student, etc.

For clarity, here are some details for how the district will respond and notify if/when we have a positive COVID case.

• The District consults with the local health department for all positive cases and works collaboratively with them for contact tracing and notification.

• We will not provide identifying information on individuals due to HIPPA.

• The District will provide as much information as we can within privacy guidelines.

• If your child is directly impacted, a close contact, you will be notified personally by the school. GUARANTEED. When we put out a general update about a case, if you have not been called personally, your child is NOT a direct contact.

We appreciate everyone’s support and flexibility in this ever-changing landscape. We know how hard it is to shift and make new arrangements quickly. Also, please continue to help us protect all the members of our district family in the following ways:

• Continue to check yourself and your kids for symptoms every day.
• Be cautious. If your child has potential symptoms, keep them home.
• NOTIFY the school IMMEDIATELY if you have a positive case or go for testing in your home. My email is stines.m@dist110.com  , contact your teachers, principals, nurses, or office staff. It is essential that we have information quickly to protect everyone as best as possible.

 

Finally, I want to let everyone know that we will report out numbers on a weekly basis moving forward. I have waited until we saw a positive case in the school before reporting, simply because so many symptoms are a result of something other than COVID and I didn’t want to inundate you with information or cause concerns reporting symptoms which did not transpire into a need for COVID response.

 

Weekly COVID Report Grant CCSD #110

 

Week of 11/9 – 11/13		Positive Tests	Current Students Quarantined*	Current Staff Quarantined*
Illini Elementary		2	7	3
Grant Middle School		2	7	0
Notes:				KDG remote was done as a precautionary measure of presumed positive case(s), contact tracing across staff and students. Grade level numbers with this would create 59 total at Illini.

 

• Quarantined individuals are those who are excluded from the buildings for a COVID related reason, by order of a medical professional or under the guidance of contact tracing criteria set forth by the CDC, State of Illinois, or St. Clair County Health Department. This means that the need for quarantine may or may not be related to the School District.

M. Stines