March 11, 2022
Good Evening Dunham Families,
As I shared on March 1, Governor Newsom announced the lifting of the state’s mask mandate for public and private schools, as well as childcare centers, to take effect after Friday, March 11. Children, regardless of vaccination status, will no longer be required to wear masks at school starting Monday, March 14. Even though California will no longer require masks to be worn in classrooms, masks will be strongly recommended for students. Dunham School has adopted the CDPH guidelines and strongly recommends students wear masks while at school but will not require them to.
However, it should be noted that local health departments and school boards are entitled to implement stricter masking policies in schools if they deem such standards appropriate for their communities.
Dunham will be using the “Group-Tracing Approach” updated by the CDPH on March 9, 2022 for classroom exposures. This approach has changed the way we deal with classroom exposures.
- The school notify students who spent more than a cumulative total of 15 minutes (within a 24-hour time period) in the shared classroom with someone with COVID-19 during their period of infectiousness. Instead of individual contact tracing, the classroom is notified of interaction with an infected/positive individual via site-based COVID Exposure Notification.
- Exposed students, regardless of COVID-19 vaccination status, should get tested for COVID-19 with at least one diagnostic test obtained within 3-5 days after last exposure, unless they had COVID-19 within the last 90 days. If the parent / guardian declines testing of the student, the student will need to practice in the traditional at home quarantine.
- Exposed students may continue to take part in all aspects of K-12 schooling, including sports and extracurricular activities, unless they develop symptoms or test positive for COVID-19.
Please keep in mind with these changes that no child or family should feel uncomfortable with their decision to continue to mask at school.
Best Regards,
Daniel Hoffman
Superintendent / Principal
