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from the Nurses
Dear Académie Lafayette Community,
Académie Lafayette staff are delighted to have welcomed our k-3 and our high school freshman students back to in-person learning. As we have begun to settle into the rhythm of the school day, the nursing staff want to remind our community of the expectations outlined in our district reopening plan. Please take some time to re-read this document.
As you may be well aware, the Kansas City metro area is experiencing very high community spread of this novel coronavirus, and thus we must be extremely strict about mitigation of viral transmission at school.
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COVID or Illness Reporting Hotline
The nursing staff has a dedicated phone number for reporting COVID diagnosis or COVID-like symptoms which will be monitored 7 days a week. That phone number is 816-868-4189.
If your child is experiencing COVID-like symptoms or if your child or a family member have been diagnosed with COVID-19 this should be reported to the school immediately. The nursing staff will be available to help you determine what next steps should be taken regarding quarantine or testing.
In order for Académie Lafayette to address the education needs of all our students and monitor for any holes in our system, it is imperative that all cases and quarantines be reported to the school, even if your child is attending school strictly online only.
Additionally, you can email the nurse at your campus to notify of symptoms of illness or COVID diagnosis.
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Daily Family Health Assessments
Families are responsible for screening their children for any symptoms of COVID-19 as well as any other communicable disease prior to going to school each morning.
If you, a family member, or your child has any of the below symptoms you should keep your child home and contact their primary care provider as soon as possible for further guidance.
COVID-19 symptoms include, but are not limited to:
The CDC defines a fever of a temperature of 100.4 or above.
Per the longstanding Académie Lafayette medical procedures, anyone with a temperature of 99.6*F or greater must not come to school.
COVID-19 can present with very mild symptoms, and can be mistaken for a cold, allergies, or the flu.
If your child exhibits even mild illness, for example, a runny nose, they must stay home. Sending a child to school to see if they can "make it through the day" (for example with Tylenol or Ibuprofen in their system), must, without exception, end immediately. This is for the health and safety of our community. Children who stay home due to illness may participate in online instruction if they feel up to it.
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If any student or staff member is found to be ill during the school day they will be sent home immediately. Students with a temperature of 99.6 *F or greater and/or have symptoms of communicable diseases, including COVID-19, will wait for their parent's arrival in an isolation room with a mask on.
If you are uncomfortable with the risks involved in sending your child to school at this time, or are unwilling or unable to follow the expectations outlined in the Reopening Plan, please contact your campus to discuss keeping your child in our Distance Learning program.
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If your child or a family member needs to get tested for COVID, PCR testing is regarded as the "gold standard." Testing is available in multiple locations in and around Kansas City, including through the Kansas City Health Department both by appointment and on a first-come-first-served basis. CLICK HERE for the KCHD website. Additionally, testing is available through select CVS and Walgreens locations, as well as multiple other medical providers. If you need assistance finding a testing location or scheduling a test, please contact the nurse line.
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All students and staff must wear a well-fitting mask that covers their entire nose, mouth and chin without falling below the nostrils at all times during the day. Masks will only be removed to eat and drink. Please be sure to send extra masks with your child to be used in the event the mask they wear to school becomes dirty or soiled.
All masks should have at least two layers of fabric to help stop the spread of COVID-19. If your mask is made of a single layer of fabric, regardless of style, it should not be worn at school.
At this time the only masks that are specifically not recommended by the CDC include masks with exhalation valves or vents, masks made of materials that make it hard to breathe, and medical grade masks such as N95 respirators or surgical masks which are needed by healthcare providers. Due to these recommendations, masks with those features should not be used at Académie Lafayette.
Masks with exhalation valves or vents allow virus particles to escape and will not be permitted at any time on Académie Lafayette campuses. As always, we encourage you to follow the CDC guidelines for mask usage. You should choose a face covering that fits well, feels comfortable, and follows CDC guidelines for you and your family.
Remember: my mask protects you, your mask protects me.
The nurses have been contacted in various formats with questions about neck gaiter style masks and their use in the school setting.
The viral Duke study many of our concerned parents are referring to, titled "Low Cost Measurement Of Facemask Efficacy For Filtering Expelled Droplets During Speech" was not a study designed to measure the effectiveness of face masks themselves, rather it was designed to prove the efficacy of the testing method that they were using. To this point they used different mask types as their variables, but did not use multiple users of each mask, nor did they test different brands or fabric make-ups of each mask type. As a result this study cannot be used to make a broad determination on the efficacy of one type of mask. Before we tell the Académie Lafayette community that gaiter-users must go purchase, or make, new masks as an extra expense to their families, we will need to see more conclusive research on the effectiveness of the gaiter mask design itself.
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Is it COVID, a cold, the flu, or allergies?
The symptoms of COVID-19, and the severity of those symptoms, can vary widely from person to person. Sometimes it can be hard to tell if you or your loved one is experiencing allergies, a cold, the flu, or COVID. KCDHE has created a chart, shared by Children's Mercy, to help you see the differences, and similarities, between these conditions.
Finally, we would like to take this opportunity to remind our community that it is of utmost importance that our staff and families adhere to the mitigation measures recommended by the CDC and our local Health Departments. These measures include social distancing, handwashing, mask-wearing, avoiding gatherings, reporting all cases of confirmed or suspected COVID-19 to the school, and participating in the contact tracing process. Our school's ability to function, and our community's ability to provide medical care in the hospital setting to those in need rely heavily on the community's collective adherence to these guidelines.
If you have questions or want clarification on health matters, please don't hesitate to reach out to us.
In Health,
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Oak Street Campus
6903 Oak Street
Kansas City, MO 64113
816-361-7735
Armour Campus,
201 E. Armour Blvd,
Kansas City, MO 64111
816-800-8771
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Cherry Street Campus
3421 Cherry Street
Kansas City, MO 64109
816-888-7400
| | | www.academielafayette.org |
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