September 6, 2021
Hello 4th-6th Grade Parents,
Working in conjunction with the Sonoma County Department of Health Services, I would like to update you on our quarantine situation. Since we do not require universal masking in all school settings we are unable to offer a modified quarantine. We are currently exploring the possibility of adding outdoor masking to our campus as an additional safety measure to help mitigate the spread of COVID-19 and be able to offer a modified quarantine to students for possible future COVID-19 exposures.
With that being said, here are the current options available for returning to school from quarantine.
Option 1:
Get tested with a PCR test. Quarantine can end after day 7 for a student if a diagnostic specimen is collected after day 5 from the date of last exposure and the test results are negative and the student has not developed any symptoms. This means a student would need to specifically take a PCR test. The test cannot be administered until after the 5th day from last exposure which in this case would be September 6. Tests conducted before September 6 cannot be used. Once the PCR test comes back negative the student could return to school if no symptoms have been developed. A copy of the negative test would need to be provided to Maggie Vasquez, the Dunham COVID Coordinator, prior to the student returning to school. Hypothetically, this means a student could return as soon as Wednesday, September 8 and only miss 1 day of school. Please be mindful that the type of test and the timing of the test is essential under this option.
Option 2:
Quarantine for 10 days. The quarantine timeline runs from September 1 through September 10, which means an exposed student could return to school on Monday, September 13 if testing was declined and no symptoms developed.
Depending upon which option parents / guardians decide to do, as well as testing appointments and testing results turnaround, students may be returning on different days staggered throughout this week.
School work will be available in the office for pick up on Tuesday between 1:00 and 4:00 p.m. If you know that your student will be out more than 3 school days we encourage you to fill out an independent study form in the office. Special services teachers are contacting their students regarding support during quarantine.
I know none of these situations are ideal for any family. COVID continues to impact everyone’s daily life. These steps are given to us by the state and county and are required for us to follow for safety mitigation measures to open school and to keep it open while providing a safe setting for students and staff during a pandemic.
Thank you for your understanding,
Daniel Hoffman
Superintendent / Principal
