When to Keep Your Child Home

YESHIVAH OF FLATBUSH

September 13, 2020 | 24 Elul 5780

Dear YOF Family,

As a follow-up to this morning's email (provided below for your convenience), we want to emphasize that our faculty and staff are committed to creating a safe and healthy environment for our children so that we can keep our school buildings open for in-person learning. We need your partnership outside of school in order to be able to keep this promise to our students.

We have started to receive questions about when to stay home so as not to risk the safety of others. Please note that these are the three most common scenarios:

1. If your child has tested positive for Covid-19 or has any of the symptoms - DO NOT send your child to school.

2. If a member of your immediate family has tested positive for Covid-19 - DO NOT send any of your children to school.

3. If your child attends an event and has had a close contact with someone who tested positive for Covid-19, he or she should stay home for 14 days after their last exposure to that person. Close contact is defined by contact with someone less than six feet away for more than 10 minutes, with or without a mask. Close contact may also entail sharing food utensils, caring for an infected person, or having an infected person cough or sneeze near you (even if it is less than 10 minutes). A negative test does not cancel quarantine - you cannot test out of quarantine.

In these three scenarios, or if you are not sure, please stay home and be in touch with the school's nurse ASAP at esnurse@flatbush.org or hsnurse@flatbush.org

We are counting on you, our YOF Family, to help us ensure a healthy, safe and successful year in our school buildings. Please do your part by adhering to our safety guidelines at home. Kol Yisrael Arevim Zeh Lazeh. Please contact us if you have any questions.

Thank you,

Rabbi Dr. Raymond Harari

Rabbi Yahel Tsaidi

Rabbi Dr. Jeffrey Rothman

Abie J. Hidary

Murray Jonas, MD

Jack Katri, MD

David Khaski, MD

Daniel Matalon, MD

Judy Dayan Namer, MD

Joseph Tawil, MD

Evelyn Glaser, YOF ES Nurse

Fayge Kleinbart, YOF HS Nurse

Dear YOF Family,

We are happy to have our students and staff back in the buildings as we have wrapped up a successful first week of in-person school, complete with learning in the classroom, recess in the playground and davening together.

As you may know, recently the rate of Covid 19 infections has unfortunately been increasing in our community and others. Our administration and teachers have collectively committed themselves to opening our doors and providing school in a safe and secure manner. We are now reaching out to you, our parent body, as our partners to enforce the same guidelines outside of school to ensure that our children will be able to continue to attend school in person.

Please make sure that you adhere to the following guidelines outside of school:

Wear a Mask: Masks help stop the spread of Covid 19 to others. Refer to the CDC guidelines with regard to how to select and wear your mask. Parents should please make sure to wear a mask when they are outside of their cars during arrival and dismissal.
Practice Social Distancing: Practice proper social distancing at all times. If you are with anyone outside of your immediate family, wear a mask at all times, stay 6 feet apart and minimize these situations.
Stay home if you have symptoms: For symptoms to look out for, please refer to the CDC's Symptoms of Coronavirus. Do note send your child to school if he or she exhibits any symptoms.
Public Gatherings: Keep them small. Gatherings (such as a wedding or bar mitzvah) should not exceed 50 people. Keep the children at home, wear a mask at all times, stay 6 feet apart and leave as early as possible. Weddings have proven to be a super-spreader in the community because attendees were not following guidelines.
Smachot Invitations: Include in your invitation the safety protocols that will be in place. State your expectations of guests, such as that masks will be available and required.
Play Dates: Play dates should take place outdoors with just one or two children from the same cohort in school.
Shabbat and Holiday Meals: We recommend that all Shabbat and Holiday Meals take place with immediate family only. Holiday meals with extended family should be outdoors with 6 feet distance between families or wearing a mask.
Attending Synagogue: If you are attending synagogue, please do so responsibly. Make sure that you and your family members are wearing masks and staying 6 feet apart from others at all times.
Follow the Travel Advisory Guidelines: Please keep in mind the New York State COVID Travel Advisory if you are traveling for the holidays. The advisory requires all New Yorkers to take personal responsibility for compliance. Anyone returning to New York from Israel, or states designated by NYS as high risk, is required to quarantine for 14 days. Without exception, students and staff will not be permitted to enter our school buildings until quarantine completion.