COVID-19 UPDATE

COVID-19 Protocols 2021/2022

This school year, we continue to be committed to ensuring as healthy a learning environment as possible, and we believe in-person instruction to be at the heart of our mission. The recent news and guidelines concerning the COVID-19 virus and Delta variant has prompted us to communicate to you our method of decision-making related to COVID-19 protocols for the start of the school year.

Considerations for Protocol Decisions:

In addition to official guidance, we continue to have access to the expertise of members of our external COVID-19 Advisory Board. They include medical professionals, business owners, and educators.
Our internal COVID-19 task force meets regularly and reviews data daily. The impact of the virus on our community is a major factor in our decision-making.
We strive to provide a healthy learning environment and pursue strategies that are effective, while also creating the least disruption to our learning environment. Our fundamental commitment is to protect in-person learning.
After a successful year mitigating COVID-19, we have a year of associated data for cases, quarantines, spread within quarantine groups, recoveries, hospitalizations, and serious complications within our population.
We have our contact tracers on staff who have a strong relationship with the Georgia Department of Public Health and work with the DPH on mitigation strategy and decisions related to overall school health.
Currently, more than 70% of our faculty, staff, and religious are vaccinated. A large portion of our student body (students over 12) are also vaccinated.
We have a layered prevention strategy that begins with home health screening.
Our faculty and staff will be monitoring and identifying students who have symptoms of illness, and we will send students home when they are symptomatic.
Our small class sizes, large spaces, and constant review of COVID-19 data allows for flexibility and a quick response or change in course.

Partnering with Us

Please keep your child home when sick, and communicate with us quickly should anyone in your household be exposed or is testing for COVID-19.
Use the daily home health screening with the Magnus system.
Know that protocols may be added in small group settings of close contact in the classroom and are at the teacher’s discretion.
Inform us of situations that concern you, and know that we will make necessary changes as needed.
When visiting campus, please stop at the front desk of either the Lower, Middle, or High school to complete a tracking form that contains a simple health screening acknowledgement. This form will be kept for contact tracing, should we need it.
Last year's communication policy concerning COVID-19 cases will remain in place. Communications regarding COVID-19 cases include: notification to all affected parties, quarantine guidelines, and return to school protocols. Information will also be shared by class, grade, or school when the COVID-19 positive case affects these groups. All policy or protocol changes will be communicated by our COVID-19 Task Force. The COVID-19 dashboard will be updated weekly for your viewing and can be found on the parent portal in the COVID-19 tile.
As stated in all previous COVID-19 communications: We reserve the right to add back any necessary protocols to mitigate spread of COVID-19 should a situation arise that requires immediate attention, including asking a specific group to wear face coverings for a specific period of time, or re-instituting a cohort of students, or enforcing physical distancing within a space.

Be assured that we continue to evaluate the current situation in our school, surrounding schools, in our county, and in our state daily. Our COVID-19 tracking, contact tracing, and quarantining policies remain in place and are informed by the most up-to-date CDC/DPH guidelines.

Lastly, our families will play a critical role in our success by ensuring children with any signs of illness are kept at home. We thank you for your partnership by sharing in the responsibility of creating a healthy school environment. We are so grateful for your partnership, and together we can accomplish anything.