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Dear Parents:

In the past 13 months we all—individually and collectively—adhered to new and evolving restrictions and protocols to keep our community safe and our children learning in-person. 

As a school open for in-person learning in New York City, we are required to follow regulations determined by the New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) and New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (NYCDOHMH). As such, we are sharing new updated COVID quarantine guidance that Senesh must follow. These changes are only for vaccinated individuals. 

To be clear—no guidelines have changed for unvaccinated individuals.
 
Individuals fully vaccinated against COVID do not need to quarantine during the first three months after full vaccination, if they meet the following criteria:

  • It is at least two weeks following the second dose in a two-dose series or two weeks following receipt of one dose of a single-dose vaccine.
  • It is within three months following receipt of the last dose in the series.
  • The individual has remained asymptomatic since last COVID exposure. 

Asymptomatic individuals who have previously been diagnosed with laboratory confirmed COVID and have since recovered:

  • These individuals are not required to quarantine within three months after the date of symptom onset from the initial infection or date of first positive diagnostic test if asymptomatic during illness. 

While we are optimistic as many are receiving vaccines and we see COVID cases decreasing, our school community remains at risk. Since our return from winter break in January, our school has seen an increased number of positive COVID cases in parents and children. 

As we are still learning about COVID and the long term protection from vaccines and previous infection, we must remain committed to our community guidelines to keep each other healthy and our doors open to in-person learning. 

Please remember:

  • Wear masks and social distance when with people outside your household at all times.
  • Wash/sanitize your hands often.
  • Playdates (lower school and middle school) may only be outdoors and masked at all times. Middle school students cannot gather as a group at the pizza shop or other similar settings, which has tenting, which makes it an enclosed space.
  • Sleepovers are not allowed at this time. 
  • Birthday parties are only allowed if outside, masked, distancing measures are supervised by parents, and snacks are individually wrapped and taken home to eat to avoid taking off masks with a group.
  • Indoor after school classes and sports outside of school are not allowed at this time. 
  • All indoor group gatherings including multi-family get-togethers are not allowed at this time.
  • Students who travel to New York State from a noncontiguous state, US territory or CDC level 2 and higher country, are mandated to quarantine for 10-days prior to returning to school. The school is not able to accommodate families who decide to travel to join school remotely during the quarantine. Asynchronous work will be provided by the faculty.
  • We will update you after Passover Vacation regarding any changes to post-domestic travel quarantine.

As a school we remain committed to: 
  • Continuing weekly surveillance testing
  • Conducting daily temperature checks
  • Maintaining physical distancing and mandatory mask-wearing in school
  • Following enhanced hygiene and sanitation protocols
  • Managing all COVID positive and direct exposure cases of students and staff
 
We will continue to revise our guidelines based on the evolving COVID data at Senesh and in NYC. Please remember that every action you take impacts every child and staff member in our school. 
 
In partnership,

Nicole Nash
Head of School