January 5, 2022
Dear RSU 1 Community,
I would like to further update you on various COVID-19 health and safety procedure details. After discussion with DOE representatives, our lead nurses, and our school physician regarding Maine’s new standard operating procedures (SOP - the document that outlines the guidelines Maine schools must follow), the below are updates for you to be aware of in addition to Sunday's news.
Communication:
Due to the rise in cases in our area, moving forward we will no longer be sending districtwide COVID-19 letters when school-based quarantining occurs. Instead, we will be posting the number of positive cases by school on our district website by 3 pm on Friday each week. You will be able to view this week’s cases Friday, 1/7/22, by 3 pm.
Due to the number of cases, nurses and administrators will be using robo calls or emails to inform close contacts on next steps to ensure information is shared in a more efficient and timely manner. Individual phone calls will no longer be our primary way to contact families. Should you have any questions after you receive a robo call or email, please feel free to contact your school nurse .
Testing:
At-home tests with a positive result will now be accepted by our district. Should you have a positive at home test, please contact your school nurse right away. In order for a positive test to be used as a 90 day exemption from community quarantine, the at-home test must be confirmed by a lab based COVID-19 test (Walgreens, CVS, Parkview testing tent, etc).
A negative at-home test will not be accepted if you have been asked to provide the school with a negative test prior to returning to school. Rapid or PCR lab tests are still the only forms of negative tests accepted.
If you are having a difficult time finding COVID-19 testing, please reach out to your school nurse for assistance.
Contact Tracing and Quarantines:
As stated in the letter sent on Sunday, the state has updated its quarantining policies. Please review the chart below to better understand the changes. Reminder: quarantines have been reduced to 5 days when applicable.
As you can see, our use of universal masking in our schools and during sports allows us to move forward with identifying and notifying all close contacts, but not having to require them to be quarantined from school (exemption #6). Those students and staff who are unvaccinated and/or non pooled testers and are deemed close contacts to a positive case will, however, be required to quarantine from the community (those things occurring outside of school).
In addition to the above exceptions, there is an additional 90 day exemption. Those who have had COVID-19 confirmed by laboratory test and are within the 90 days post their infection will be exempt from school and community quarantines.
Please contact your school nurse should you have any questions. Thank you for your continued efforts to keep our community safe.
Sincerely,
Summary of Quarantine Exemptions
