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Happy New Year and welcome to what I anticipate will be a positive and productive 2022 for the Ramapo Indian Hills Regional High School District. We are committed to effective and timely District and school communication as your official source for accurate and credible updates for our learning community.
I have not been shy about my intention to advocate for our schools to continue to remain open to in-person learning while prioritizing the safety of our students and staff. As the impact of the increased COVID activity level continues to rise, it will require us to adhere to safety precautions and best practices remaining flexible and nimble if we hope to keep our schools open. Thank you for your partnership as we provide regular updates on how your cooperation will help us accomplish this goal for our students.
The NJDOH recently provided a recommendation to school districts to require students to be vaccinated and tested weekly to participate in athletics or extra-curricular activities. I want to be clear that our District has not adopted those guidelines.
The District recognizes that control of the spread of communicable disease is essential to the well-being of the school community and to the efficient operation of the schools. In our continued effort to provide measurable relief and ease the burden that this pandemic has imposed on our parents, students, and staff, at my recommendation in order to facilitate students to be able to return to in-person learning as soon as possible while maintaining safety precautions, and in coordination with our district physician and Board counsel, a resolution was introduced and adopted at Thursday night’s Board of Education meeting to make a change in Board Policy 8451, “Control of Communicable Disease” to reflect the exclusion criteria recommended by the New Jersey Department of Health for Local Health Departments for K-12 Schools.
Students and staff who test positive for COVID-19 or individuals with COVID-19 symptoms who have not been tested and do not have an alternative diagnosis from their healthcare provider should stay home until at least 10 days have passed since symptom onset and at least 24 hours have passed after resolution of fever without fever-reducing medications and improvement in symptoms.
Effective immediately, a student or staff member who is a confirmed COVID-19 case will no longer need written evidence of being free of a communicable disease in order to return to school or work after at least 10 days have passed, as long as the individual is symptom-free and the exclusion criteria above are met in accordance with NJDOH public health guidance.
Under the recommendation of our District Physician, School Nurses, and the American Academy of Pediatrics “students who participate in Extra-Curricular Activities Competition under Policy 2431 shall be required to present written evidence of being free of COVID-19 and eligible to participate in extra-curricular activities competition supplied by the school medical inspector or another qualified physician who has examined the student before the student is permitted to resume participation in any extra-curricular activities competition.”
Post COVID-19 Clearance Form for Students
The pace of play has been fast of late. I am proud of the swift response of our leadership team and the support of our Board of Education enabling us to meet the needs of our students and staff in real-time amidst the evolving nature of the pandemic. Thank you to our leadership team, nurses, administrative assistants, facilities and security, food services, and our entire faculty. Our nursing staff continues to be responsible to address the regular medical needs of our students, including contact tracing and COVID-related matters. However, wherever we can, we have been and will continue to add additional layers of support as we respond to the pandemic.
Upon return from December recess, the past week was challenging to navigate with increased COVID activity from the break but we accomplished a great deal to enable us to continue to chart a path forward with the support of our Board of Education.
- Expanded staffing at both high schools to support our school nurses and administrative offices to address operational response time
- Increased compensation to substitute pay to remain competitive and effectively staff our buildings to proactively prevent staffing shortages
- Revision to the COVID Dashboard to reflect daily reported positive cases to improve case rate reporting and streamline communication protocols
- Addition of COVID-19 Hub on mega menu of District website with relevant community resources and updates
- Revised Zoom link administrative process to improve efficiencies and remove barriers to student learning impacted by COVID
While we are not out of the woods yet, a review of the numbers reported by our nursing office for the COVID dashboard indicates a recent decline in the number of positive cases over the past several days but we must remain vigilant. It is likely we will continue to observe high COVID activity across the region for several weeks which may continue to impact our schools. I recognize that we are living through challenging times but now is the time to continue to communicate effectively, work together, and remain positive.
Lastly, but certainly not least, a special thank you to our school facilities personnel, FLOW law enforcement, and our community Department of Public Works who helped guide us through two weather events last week. The winter season is young and we will continue to collaborate and work together to respond accordingly to inclement weather.
I hope you find the information in the Weekend Morning Brew informative and evidence of the progress our school district is committed to. We have much work ahead. Together we will continue to make the Ramapo Indian Hills Regional a place we can all continue to be proud of.
All my best,
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