Dear Parents/Guardians:

I want to inform you of a change in practice regarding notification of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in our schools.

Under our current procedures, letters from public health are emailed or sent through Edsby to all parents/guardians of close contacts, whenever a confirmed case of COVID-19 has been identified in our schools. These letters contain important information from public health for close contacts, including: whether to isolate or attend school, depending on vaccination status; directions for self-monitoring; when testing is recommended, etc.

After these public health letters have been sent to all close contacts, a second letter is forwarded to the entire school community, which is a notification of a confirmed case in the school. This letter is for information purposes only; no action or follow-up is required, as all close contacts have already been informed.  This second letter is also posted to the school website on the COVID-19 Advisory page.

Beginning tomorrow, Thursday, October 28, 2021, the second letter will no longer be forwarded to all parents/guardians and staff by direct email or through Edsby. It will however, continue to be posted, as is the current practice, to the school website on the COVID-19 Advisory page. The exception to this practice will be in the event that public health declares the school to be in ‘outbreak’. In those instances, the notification letter will be emailed or sent through Edsby to all parents/guardians and staff in the school community in addition to being posted to the school website on the COVID-19 Advisory page.

Through this new procedure, the Board continues to meet its responsibility to keep school communities informed, while at the same time reducing some of the burden of multiple communications within our schools.

If you have any questions, please contact your school office.

Sincerely,

Scott Johnson
Director of Education