Happy New Year to you and your families! After many months with very few positive cases, LHPUSD is experiencing positive COVID-19 cases in our schools following winter break. We have identified 13 cases of COVID-19 over the past few days. I have added a Covid Tracker to our website which lists the daily count of new cases. The tracker is located here.
Due to increased cases in our schools and communities, the Rural Schools Design Program Community Gathering Event planned for January 19th has been postponed until early February on a date to be determined.
Our COVID response to positive cases is aligned with the California Department of Health guidelines and the San Mateo County Office of Education Pandemic Recovery Framework. The following actions are taken upon learning of a positive case:
Require the student to isolate at home.
Notify the school community that there is a positive case.
Notify individuals who are close contacts to a positive case. A close contact is an individual who has spent 15 minutes or more in close proximity to the positive case.
If the close contact is fully vaccinated, they may continue to attend school. If the close contact is unvaccinated and properly masked, they may continue to attend school under a modified quarantine program which requires 2 tests within 10 days. Students in modified quarantine may attend school but must refrain from participation in extracurricular activities. You may be asked if your student is vaccinated in order for the school to be able to select the course of action if s/he/they is a close contact. If you do not want to provide vaccination status, your student will be treated as an unvaccinated individual.
We continue to require masking at our schools. We recommend a well fitting mask for children and adults. Schools will provide students with masks if needed.
Ash Colin is the COVID Director for LHPUSD. If you have any questions about COVID protocols, please feel free to reach out to him for clarification or any other support. He speaks fluent English and Spanish and can be reached at acolin@lhpusd.com.
We recognize the stress and anxiety that the pandemic continues to cause in our school community. We appreciate your cooperation as we navigate this new challenge.