Coronavirus Announcements / WCSD COVID-19 and School Information

Dear Parents/Guardians:

The Williamsburg Community School District has made the decision to bring all K-12 students back to full time, face to face instruction on January 4, 2021. In addition, in order to provide in person learning, the District submitted an Attestation Form to the Pennsylvania Department of Education on November 30, 2020, attesting to follow the Face Covering Mandate and the Recommendations for Pre-K-12 Schools Following Identification of a Case(s) of COVID-19.

By attesting to the Face Covering mandate, all Pre-K-12 students and staff are required to wear face coverings in school and during extra-curricular activities. Students who regularly refuse to wear their face coverings will be referred to the building principal. Disciplinary action may be taken including moving students to remote learning.

Parents and visitors must wear face coverings when on school property. This includes the elementary bus port when dropping off and picking up your child. If you choose to not wear a face covering, you can drop your child off at Sage Hill Drive or at the corner of Sage Hill Drive and Black Street where a staff member will be there to walk your child safely across the street.

By attesting to the Recommendations for Pre-K-12 Schools Following the Identification of a Case(s) of COVID-19, the Williamsburg Community School District will follow the chart below provided by the PA Department of Health. You will see that when one case is identified (staff or student), we are to decrease the number of students onsite. We will make every attempt to do this by quarantining individuals who had contact with the case. This may be groups of students or entire classes. In some cases, it may be necessary to convert to a hybrid schedule for a period of time.

When 2-4 cases are identified, we will be required to close the school building. This closure does not mean a quarantine period. It allows us time to identify and contact close contacts and clean/disinfect the building. When 5+ cases are identified, the same procedures occur, but school closure may be longer due to having to contact trace more individuals. Please note on the chart, the number of days for a school closure may be shortened depending on the cases.

The school closures may occur per school building (high school or elementary), not district wide. There most likely will be times when one building is closed, but the other remains open. It is important to realize that it is likely that a school may be open, then closed, then open, closed and so on. We understand this will be a huge inconvenience especially for parents with young children and having to make child care arrangements with very little notice. We know that face to face instruction is most beneficial to students and staff, and we will make every attempt to continue to provide that instruction.

Please be reminded, if your child is sick or has been in contact with a positive case, keep your child home and notify the school so we can make temporary arrangements for remote instruction for your child. Symptoms of COVID-19 are very similar to a regular head cold including congestion, runny nose, sore/scratchy throat, fever, cough, etc. Please take all precautions and do not send your child to school with cold-like symptoms. The more we work together and communicate, the longer we can keep our students and staff in face to face learning in a healthy environment.

Please do not hesitate to contact me or the building principals with any questions or concerns you have. Have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Lisa Murgas

Superintendent

Recommendations for Small (<500 Students) Pre-K to 12 School Buildings Following Identification of a Case(s) of COVID-19

It is important to note that a significant and/or widespread outbreak may require moving to a more remote-based instructional model more quickly. DOH will provide proactive consultative assistance to school entities should such an outbreak occur.

Level of Community Transmission in the County	Number of Cases of COVID-19 Within a Rolling 14-Day Period: 1 student or 1 staff	Number of Cases of COVID-19 Within a Rolling 14-Day Period: 2-4 students/staff in same school building	Number of Cases of COVID-19 Within a Rolling 14-Day Period: 5+ students/staff in same school building
Low	School does not need to close Clean area(s) where case spent time Public health staff will direct close contacts to quarantine	Close school(s) for 3-5 days* Clean area(s) where cases spent time Public health staff will direct close contacts to quarantine	Close school(s) for 14 days* Clean entire school(s) Public health staff will direct close contacts to quarantine
Moderate	School does not need to close Clean area(s) where case spent time Public health staff will direct close contacts to quarantine	Close school(s) for 3-7 days* Clean area(s) where cases spent time Public health staff will direct close contacts to quarantine	Close school(s) for 14 days* Clean entire school(s) Public health staff will direct close contacts to quarantine
Substantial^†	School should consider altering schedule to significantly decrease number of students on site Clean area(s) where case spent time Public health staff will direct close contacts to quarantine	School should consider altering schedule to significantly decrease number of students on site Close school(s) for 3-7 days* Clean area(s) where cases spent time Public health staff will direct close contacts to quarantine	School should consider altering schedule to significantly decrease number of students on site Close school(s) for 14 days* Clean entire school Public health staff will direct close contacts to quarantine

*If case investigations, contact tracing, and cleaning and disinfecting can be accomplished in a faster time frame, the length of closure time may be shortened.