Keeping our Westlake Community Safe
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The Westlake City School District has increased our cleaning staff and protocols to ensure a safe and clean environment for students and staff.
Safety Measures
This e-newsletter is meant to keep our families informed by providing updates regarding safety measures and information about our schools.
Holiday Schedule
The holiday season, along with the rise in COVID-19 cases, presents a concern. We do believe that our environment is safe and that we have been able to prevent/mitigate transmission. However, outside factors require us to behave differently and make adjustments to our service delivery. 

The week of November 16, we will remain in our Hybrid Model. Students will follow their current schedules. During this time, parents of students in grades 1-12 can choose to keep their student(s) in the in-person, Hybrid Model or keep their student(s) home and participate virtually (Details in the “Parent Choice” section below). Preschool and kindergarten students will continue to follow their current schedules due to the fact that there is not a Hybrid Model for either grade level.

During Thanksgiving week instruction in grades K-12 will be completed in our Virtual Model. Preschool will be closed. This is a short week for all students. Our students in PK-8 are only scheduled to be in-person on Monday because Tuesday is a conference day. Our WHS students are scheduled to be in school on both Monday and Tuesday. We have noticed that most of our COVID-19 cases are reported at the end of the weekend or early in the week. With it being a short week and right before a holiday, it is best to be remote. 

It is our intention to come back to school on November 30 in our Hybrid Format. We will continue our Parent Choice option through that week. However, we do reserve the right to move into our Virtual Model if it is appropriate.
COVID-19 Update
The Westlake City School District is committed to transparency in all aspects of our school district. This includes the reporting of COVID-19 data that is connected to our school district. Each Friday afternoon, we post a weekly dashboard that displays overall district information (click here) as well as cases by building (click here). It is the communication and partnership we have with our families that can help use keep each other safe.

Positive Cases

Last week, we recorded 15 positive student cases and 1 positive staff case. This week, we have recorded 11 positive student cases and 2 positive staff cases. Out of those 26 student cases reported, 20 are high school students.

It is important to note that, to date, none of these positive cases have been traced back to being transmitted in school. At some point, it will happen but our safety protocols, contact tracing, quarantine procedures, and parent cooperation have been very beneficial. We work very hard to provide a safe and clean environment for our students and staff.
 
Quarantine

As of 3 p.m. this afternoon, we have 114 students and 11 staff members in quarantine. 85 out of the 114 students in quarantine are high school students. Over the weekend, 60 students will be removed from the quarantine list. 
 
In total, we have placed 156 individuals in quarantine. Please note that quarantine numbers may overflow from one week to the next until the quarantine is lifted for each individual. That number is large. However, it is important to point out that out of the 156 people who have been placed in quarantine, only 2 ended up reporting a positive test.

Our quarantine process is completed out of abundance of caution and to mitigate/prevent spread in our schools. We will continue following thorough contact tracing procedures and err on the side of caution when determining student and staff quarantines.
Keeping Each Other Safe: Our Community
What can you do to help us?

  • Limit gatherings for you and your students. As shown in the chart above, a significant increase in the amount of quarantines and cases occurred, primarily at the high school level, after Halloween weekend. Limiting the close contact of your student with others inside and outside of school is vital in keeping all staff, students and families healthy.
  • Continue to keep your students home if they are displaying symptoms. You can find a list of COVID-19 symptoms here. 
  • Contact your school nurse immediately if there is a positive test, or presumed positive test, in your home so that contract tracing can begin.  
  • Do you know when you have to quarantine? How do I know if a close contact (quarantine) or a casual contact (monitor symptoms)? You can find that guidance here. We recommend reviewing this information as a family as a reminder of safety practices during this pandemic. 
Parent Choice Option
During the week of November 16, we are offering the parents of students in Grades 1-12 the option to keep your student home and have him/her participate in their classes virtually. If we do come back on November 30 in the Hybrid Model, we will again offer this option to families. Here are some specifics regarding Parent Choice:

  1. Parents must report the option on the school attendance line. 
  2. Students who do not attend in-person will receive an excused absence. If a student is scheduled to be in-person, we are required to document that they are not in school, even if they attend virtually. This is for both safety and reporting reasons. There will not be a penalty.
  3. If your student attends WES, they will remain in their current class. They will not be transferred into a full virtual classroom. 
  4. Pre-K and kindergarten will remain as is for the weeks of November 16 and November 30. These grades are All-In daily and, therefore, are not set up for a Hybrid teaching model. Students in grades Pre-K and kindergarten will be All-In for the weeks of November 16 and November 30. Pre-K will have no school on Monday, November 23, 2020 while kindergarten will join Grades 1-12 and have a fully virtual day on Monday, November 23, 2020.

Understanding that cases are rising statewide and locally, many families have students returning from college and Thanksgiving around the corner, our goal is to allow parents to switch their child from Hybrid to Virtual for a shortened period of time, without a teacher or schedule change, rather than requiring a commitment for the remainder of the semester.