Mask Wearing

It is about education.  Whether you believe that one should wear a mask or not is not the question.  As we continue to get guidance from our local health department and those of the Governor our CoVid Standard operating Procedures (SOP) are more relevant than ever.  I feel it is my charge from the board to keep in-person learning and extra-curricular activities happening at Chadron Public School.  To avoid large numbers in quarantine our SOP will help with that.  No one wants to return to the education that we experienced last spring.

From PPHD September 29, 2020

"Keeping kids in school is the goal

School has now been in session for up to six weeks in many Panhandle communities. Several area schools, administration, and boards have worked hard to implement increased precautions during the COVID pandemic to keep children and staff safe. These include things like:

Spacing students out in the classroom and at lunch to allow for effective distancing.

Mask wearing in accordance with the Panhandle risk dial.

Staggered passing times to decrease the number of people in the hallways and staggered recesses.

Increased handwashing and sanitizing points throughout the school.

Staying home when a student or staff member is experiencing even minor signs of illness.

“These are all key to slowing the disease spread,” said Kim Engel, Panhandle Public Health District Director. She added, “When these increased precautions are being implemented, it significantly reduces the amount of students that are required to quarantine due to close contact resulting in kids staying in school.”

In some situations, the health district has seen one confirmed COVID positive student or staff member and upwards of 38 others that are then required to quarantine, as required by the Governor’s Directed Health Measure, when contact tracing has been conducted. Factors that are considered in the disease investigation:

Close contact is considered less than six feet for a total of 15 minutes or more.

Were masks worn by the positive individual and the close contacts?

In a classroom where everyone is masked, including the initial positive case, the initial positive case will isolate at home, and the remainder of the school-aged individuals will self-monitor for symptoms.

In a classroom where the initial positive case is not masked, the initial positive case will be isolated at home, and any school-aged individual who had close contact will quarantine at home.

In a classroom where the initial positive case is masked but others are not, the initial positive case will isolate at home, those school-aged individuals without masks and had close contact with initial positive case who are exposed will quarantine at home, and the remainder of the classroom will self-monitor for symptoms.

In a classroom where no school-aged individual were masked, the initial positive case will be isolated at home, and any school-aged individual who had close contact with initial positive case will quarantine at home.

Seating charts for the classroom, lunch room, and transportation

marking where each student sat and if they wore a mask

distance between desk

attendance for the date(s) in question

If a school-aged individual has close contact during an outdoor extracurricular event or in an indoor space where all individuals are spaced six feet apart, the school-aged individual(s) may self-monitor in lieu of quarantine.