Dear Fairbanks Families,
Yesterday, Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff, Director of the Ohio Department of Health, shared new quarantine options specifically for school districts. Locally, the Union County Health Department is supporting these guidelines for schools as well. Fairbanks Local Schools will be moving forward with the “Mask to Stay” and “Test to Play” guidance in order to maximize in-person instruction for our students.
Please watch as Dr. Vanderhoff outlines these options from his announcement yesterday:
As shared in the video, here are the written options from the Ohio Department of Health:
Families should continue to consider the following as they make choices for their students.
The new guidelines permit Mask to Stay and Test to Play options with exposures related to classrooms, cafeterias, playground, and school events. They do not include household or other community exposures. Traditional quarantines will still apply for these exposures. Masking is still required on buses under a federal mandate.
While masking is optional on a day-to-day basis, it is still highly recommended to reduce potential infection and quarantine for students, especially within indoor settings.
Masking in school and vaccination are two options to minimize school quarantines. This information can be found here. Our schools will put operational shifts into place over the coming days. They will be included in a regular update and linked here.
Families should consider all options and student engagement, such as involvement in school-based activities or athletics, when making decisions. Families that choose not to follow the “Mask to Stay” option will follow the health department out of school quarantine.
Continue to monitor for COVID-19 symptoms, report COVID-19 cases, and share other information to help reduce impact across our greater school community.
As we move forward with new “Mask to Stay” and “Test to Play” guidelines, we must continue to use other best practices in order to mitigate spread in our schools and community. Steps like daily symptom assessment, staying home when sick, social distancing when applicable, and hand hygiene need to be continued in our daily routine moving forward. These layered approaches continue to help our school environment move forward in a positive direction.
Thank you for your continued focus on these areas. This is another tool to balance the health of our overall community and the need for students to be in school as much as possible. If you have questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to reach out at adhamschirg@fairbankspanthers.org or call at (937) 349-3731.
For Fairbanks,
Adham Schirg