CDPH Updated Guidelines - January 13, 2022

Dear LGUSD Families,

Over the past 2 weeks we have administered more than 3500 COVID tests to students, staff, and family members.  We appreciate the community’s effort to keep our schools healthy and safe. 

LGUSD schools are able to stay open because the multi-layered approach to COVID-19 mitigation has effectively curbed in-school transmission to-date.  Our community’s efforts to be vaccinated and boosted, wearing well-fitting masks, and staying home and testing if symptomatic remain crucial to school-based mitigation efforts.  

We have endured through continual state and county health updates and directives for the past two years.Guidance continues to change frequently.  Yesterday, CDPH updated their guidance for all California schools.   COVID-19 Guidance for K-12 Schools.

Please read through this important communication.  As a result of yesterday’s CDPH guidance, some LGUSD procedures are staying the same while others are changing.  

Working together we can weather this COVID surge.  Again, thank you for your support.

Yours in education,

Paul Johnson

Superintendent  

Students can clear isolation using an at home test or through the District testing clinics.  If an at home test is used, please submit a photo of the test and the attestation form to [email protected] by 7:30 am on the day you hope to return to school.  We will review the results and confirm the return to school each morning.  

Return to school antigen testing is during any testing clinic at the district office and Monday mornings 7:30-8:00 am.  

(Note:  The county has clarified that the day of the test is day 0, then the five day counting begins.) 

Following CDPH guidance, the District will trace all indoor exposures, outdoor exposures will not be traced.  To complete this tracing, we will utilize the Group-Tracing Approach instead of close contact tracing.   

• a quicker and broader response to cases identified in school settings, accomplishable through prompt notification, regular testing, and continued isolation protocols. 
• our schools to continue to provide safe in-person instruction.

When there is an exposure, the whole class/classes will be notified as a group.  For example:

• a whole third grade class will receive the notification 
• at the middle school, all six periods will receive the notification. 

Regardless of vaccination status, all asymptomatic students may continue to attend school following an exposure if:

• they are participating in the weekly testing (schedule below) 

OR

• test 5 days following the notification of an exposure (students may CONTINUE to attend school between the notice and day 5).  

Please note, we are seeing the trend of at home/family positives making their way to other siblings in the home.  We highly encourage parents to consider keeping siblings home and follow a shortened quarantine, testing on day 5 from last exposure to the positive family member.  

Regardless of vaccination status, exposed students who participate in testing may continue to take part in all aspects of K-12 schooling, including sports and extracurricular activities, unless they develop symptoms or test positive for COVID-19. 

CDPH guidance explains that In the event of wide-scale and/or repeated exposures, broader (e.g., grade-wide or campus-wide) once weekly testing for COVID-19 may be considered until such time that exposure events become less frequent. 

While we are in the Omicron surge, we will utilize the grade level/ group tracing approach for ALL students each week.  This means that for the next THREE WEEKS, we want every student at every grade level to participate in weekly PCR testing.  (see schedule below)

We will be offering testing to all students for the next 3 weeks, no matter whether they are a close contact under the prior tracing process or not.  This will ensure thorough and comprehensive group-tracing while we are experiencing higher positivity rates.  

Due to the complex class schedule in the middle school, we will provide 

• testing during the school day, 
• on the first day of each week, 
• for the next three weeks.  

Elementary students will be tested at the District Office each afternoon for the next three weeks, scheduled by grade level.  This allows us to efficiently staff testing clinics to reduce wait time and maintain the intention of the group-tracing protocol. We request that you do your best to test on your child’s assigned grade level day. No student will be turned away from testing.   In the event that you have multiple children in multiple elementary grades and need to test on one day, we ask that you come on the day of your youngest child’s grade level.  (i.e., if you have a 1st, 3rd, and 5th grader, please come on Wednesday between 1:00 and 4:30.)

Any student who receives a notice may come again for testing, even if they do the weekly schedule, but they will not be required to (provided they continue to participate in the weekly schedule during this group-tracing response).

Testing Schedule

Fisher Opt Out of Testing

All Fisher students will be tested during school unless a parent/guardian submits an opt-out. 

If a middle school family opts out of testing or wants to be present for the testing to occur, they can continue to come to the open testing hours on Monday between 8:00 and 9:00 or 3:00 - 4:30.

Testing Hours

LGUSD COVID Information Webpage

Family testing ends tomorrow,  Friday, January 14, 2022.  Family members will need to seek other testing opportunities.  Visit the  Santa Clara County Free COVID Testing website or consult with your healthcare provider.

COVID Vaccine Clinic January 17, 2022

LGUSD is partnering with Safeway to offer a COVID-19 vaccination clinic for eligible individuals including boosters.

 

Registration is Required 

Click Here to Register for the Jan. 17th COVID Vaccination Clinic