Harvard-Kent Elementary School
Changes Due to Covid-19
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Everyone must wear a mask
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All BPS staff and students must wear a mask when on school property and while riding the yellow buses.
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Building access will still be limited as we enter the school year while we continue to monitor the public health environment
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Families will be able to visit only as required and by appointment
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All approved visitors entering a school building must wear a mask at all times regardless of vaccination status.
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Early dismissal arrangements/late drop off--- contact us
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Free, voluntary, and confidential COVID-19 pool testing will be available in schools for students and school staffWe strongly encourage all students and staff, regardless of vaccination status, to participate in the pool testing program. The more people who test regularly, the better data we have
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Parents/guardians/caregivers must complete a consent form for their students to be eligible for pool testing. Each family will receive a link to this form for each student
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There are three main strategies for COVID-19 testing in our schools, operated by our partners at CIC Health:
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Routine COVID Pool testing - with the consent of families and staff members, schools will provide COVID-19 testing weekly for a sample of the population (the ‘pool’). If there is a positive “pool” case, each individual sample from the positive pool will be tested with a follow-up test.
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Testing for students experiencing symptoms of COVID-19 - any student who complains of any of the symptoms of COVID-19 will have access to a rapid test. Decisions on next steps are based on the results of the test
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Test and Stay - introduced by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, test and stay allows individuals who are identified as a close contact of a confirmed positive case to stay in school with daily testing for 5 days, if they do not have any symptoms. BPS’s testing clinical provider, CIC Health, will deploy a team who will manage the daily tests for those who qualify.
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