Please pay special attention to the information in red. Thank you for helping to keep our school community safe! -Jenna jdallamura@ewsd.org 857-7027
Dear Families and Staff,
We hope you all enjoyed a few days off and were able to spend some quality time with your family.
On November 20, Governor Scott’s Executive Order suspended multi-household social gatherings. The Order prohibits multiple households from participating in the same social gatherings, including group trips, gatherings, related ceremonies, holiday events, parties, celebrations, and sharing accommodations with anyone outside of your household. At a recent press conference, Scott mentioned that 71% of positive COVID-19 cases in Vermont were connected to social gatherings.
The suspension of multi-household social gatherings acts as an extension of the state’s travel guidance and in turn, the Governor has asked families to quarantine if they attend or host a multi-household gathering. We will not be asking students and staff this question upon their return to school. We do, however, expect families and staff to do the right thing and decide whether or not their student(s) needs to quarantine.
There have been some questions as to whether or not having grandparents for dinner goes against this order. If the grandparents are in the children’s day-to-day life, such as providing daycare, then quarantining is not necessary.
If quarantining is necessary, from traveling or attending a multi-household gathering, remember you will need to complete either a 14-day quarantine or a seven-day quarantine followed by a negative COVID-19 test.
If your student is quarantining as a result of non-essential travel or as a result of attending a multi-household gathering, there is not an expectation that the teacher(s) will provide work but there may be make-up work upon returning. The student will be marked as an excused absence (this is a change from previous communications when it was said that it would count as an ‘unexcused’ absence).
Traveling or gathering with those outside of your household and not quarantining puts our community at risk and the possibility of having to close our schools and go to all remote learning once again. If your family needs to quarantine, be sure to let the school know what dates your student will be out of school.
If you have any questions, please contact EWSD COVID Coordinator Diana Smith (dsmith@ewsd.org) or the school nurse at your child’s school.
With gratitude,
Beth Cobb
EWSD Superintendent
bcobb@ewsd.org
COVID-19 and Our Schools