On August 17, schools in the St. Vrain Valley School District, or SVVSD, opened their doors for approximately 33,000 students to resume traditional, in-person learning experiences.
According to SVVSD’s website, the plan for schools to continuously operate on an in-person basis and avoid “significant disruptions such as quarantines and school closures” is supported by a number of health and safety measures in place at each school.
Such measures include a district-wide mandate that all SVVSD students and staff wear a mask while inside school buildings; directional arrows on the floors of school hallways, seats placed as far apart as possible in classrooms and staggered dismissal periods at high schools; increased numbers of hand sanitizing stations around schools and more on-staff custodians.
Even with these preventative measures in place, SVVSD hired 18 registered nurses and 55 health clerks this year to “ensure adherence to all quarantining protocols and safety guidelines” in schools.
In the event of a “routine classroom exposure,” the SVVSD website stated, other students will not need to quarantine if they’ve worn their mask inside the building, “except in extremely rare, specific cases.”
Each confirmed case of COVID-19 that occurs in an SVVSD school, the district promises, “will be individually investigated and families will receive more detailed information regarding potential exposure if your student has been directly impacted.”
Families will only be notified about confirmed COVID-19 cases in their student’s school if the school determines that the student has been directly impacted.
When considering who will need to quarantine, SVVSD is following the guidance of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.
According to this guidance, students who are fully vaccinated are not required to quarantine after being exposed to a person with COVID-19. Although not required to quarantine, fully vaccinated individuals are still encouraged to get a COVID-19 test three to five days after exposure and wear a mask for at least 14 days after exposure or until a negative COVID-19 test result is received.
SVVSD requires students and staff members who test positive for COVID-19 to quarantine. During this time, rostered classroom students have the ability to observe their classes synchronously from home on the Internet. This option only applies for students who have been quarantined.
Individuals can access the numbers of confirmed COVID-19 cases and quarantined students and staff members at each school on the Coronavirus Dashboard that is updated at the end of each day and reflected on the SVVSD website. The chart displays statistics from each school in the district and district-wide statistics regarding how many students and staff members are currently infected with COVID-19 and how many are actively quarantining as well as the cumulative numbers of active and recovered cases so far this year and how many people have so far and are actively quarantined.
