Health Procedures for Covid Cases

Dear St. James/Seton Catholic School Parents,

We are excited for the school year and hope you are as well. We have missed the students and are looking forward to welcoming them back. With the start of the 2020/2021 school year quickly approaching, we want to make you aware of some important updates.

Please know that our staff is working to make sure the environment is as safe as possible. The health and well-being of our students and staff are of utmost importance. As we navigate this school year, we ask all to be hypervigilant of any new onset symptoms. We ask all parents to self-screen at home for symptoms prior to school each day. It is always best to err on the side of caution and keep potentially sick kids home. An individual should stay home and follow-up with their healthcare provider if they are experiencing a new or changed cough, shortness of breath, have difficulty breathing, a fever, loss of taste or smell, sore throat, a new rash, nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea. Additional Guidelines:

Any child sent home from school with vomiting or diarrhea will not be allowed to return the

next school day. Be sure your child is able to eat and drink without difficulty before returning to school.

Students with a fever (>100.4), new cough, shortness of breath, chills, vomiting, diarrhea or other symptoms of Covid-19 will be taken to an isolation area in the office until picked up by a caregiver. We expect that a sick child will be picked up within 45 minutes of notification. Only one parent/guardian will be allowed to come inside to pick up a sick child as long as s/he is wearing a mask and does not have Covid-19 symptoms.
At this time, only people returning from international travel are recommended to quarantine for 14 days. Parents must check the local health department’s current travel guidelines for the state of Nebraska upon returning from travel.
Quarantined persons may return to school 14 days after their last contact with the positive case (according to current guidelines and subject to change).

As previously stated, temperature checks will be done on each student as they enter the building. Any student with an elevated temperature will be sent to the nurse’s office and rescreened before proceeding on with the school day. The fever guideline for a student returning to school will be tweaked this year. The student must be fever free for 48 hours without the use of fever reducing medications. In addition, this school year, any student returning to school after being out ill will have an additional temperature check around noon to ensure the student is well enough to remain in school. Depending on the circumstances a physician note may be required for readmittance to school.

We will be following the guidance of the Douglas County Health Department for those students or staff members who may test positive for COVID or are symptomatic but not tested. Under current guidelines, this could include exclusion from school which may last 10-14 days from the onset of symptoms. The individual must also be fever free for 3 days (72 hours) without the use of fever reducing medications and have improved symptoms. If an individual at home is diagnosed, getting tested for, or quarantining due to COVID, please follow current guidelines and notify the school for more guidance regarding your student.

In addition, this school year lunchtime will occur in classrooms. Due to the safety of those individuals who have peanut/tree nut allergies we ask that you only send peanut free lunches to school for the first 2 weeks to ensure we have timeto establish classrooms that may need to remain peanut free this school year. After this time, you will be notified if your students’ room will need to remain as such. To ensure this process is completed in a timely manner, please make sure to return your health update forms for each student the first week of school and notify the school nurse of such allergies. We greatly appreciate your cooperation in regards to this matter.

Please remember to send your student to school with a clear water bottle each day as students will not be able to drink from the fountains. This should be clearly marked with his or her name. We encourage students to come to school with their water bottle filled. Mask usage will also be implemented so we recommend practicing with students beforehand. Please ensure that your child comes to school with a clean mask each day. Masks are required at KidsCare and are necessary for parent pick up.

We appreciate your partnership and support as we navigate through this upcoming school year. We know that with the entire school community working together we will provide an environment that is as safe as possible for our students and staff.

William Kelly Tiffany Howard Jessica Heiman

Principal Assistant Principal School Nurse