4.21.2021 Message from Jeffco Public Schools

Message to Families of Secondary Students

Dear Staff, Students and Parents,

In Jeffco, we recently had to close a middle school for two weeks because of multiple COVID outbreaks. Over the weekend, as a district we had 45 new student cases and almost all of them were middle and high schools. We now have several more schools very close to hitting the threshold below, requiring a whole school two week closure – that means no in-person of any kind – classes, sports, activities, etc.

The school closure criteria is below. Please remain vigilant with mask wearing and hand washing. Any support limiting outside of school social gatherings would help us in this endeavor to keep our schools open.

A school should be closed when:

· Five or more classroom / cohort outbreaks (defined above) occur within a 14-day period. Length of closure: 14 days. OR

· 5% or more unrelated students / teachers / staff have confirmed COVID-19 within a 14-day period (minimum of 10 unrelated students / staff). Length of closure: 14 days. (For pre-K and child care facilities, attendance may vary significantly day-to-day due to non-illness-related factors, including variability in the number of drop-in attendees. Therefore, attendance-based criteria for outbreak determination should not be utilized in child care and pre-K settings. These settings should nevertheless take note of unexplained periods of decreased attendance and communicate with local or state public health authorities if illness among attendees is suspected.) OR

· Additional time is needed to clean the school before students / teachers / staff return. Length of closure: time necessary to complete cleaning. OR

· Additional time is needed to gather student / teachers / staff illness data and confer with public health. Length of closure: time necessary to gather student / teachers / staff illness data and confer with public health. OR

· A school cannot operate because a large number of students / teachers / staff are absent. “Large number” is determined by the school / district. Length of closure is determined by the school / district.

Thank you,

Jeffco Public Schools