14 COVID Cases & New Contact Tracing Guidelines @ Rye Schools

On Wednesday, the Rye City School District reported 14 new COVID cases and new contract tracing guidelines. The school will no longer conduct contact tracing by phone, but families will still receive email notification and need to follow various procedures. The school district provided detail in a communication available below, and is also offering scheduled video meetings to review the new procedures.

From: Eric Byrne
Date: January 19, 2022 at 4:31:02 PM EST
To: Rye City School District Recipients
Subject: New Contact Tracing Guidance from County DOH
Reply-To: Eric Byrne

Dear RCSD Parents and Guardians,

Last week, New York State and the Westchester County Department of Health announced they would no longer be conducting contact tracing for COVID-19 positive individuals due to the high positivity rate in the region. This past Friday, the DOH also announced that it would no longer require schools to conduct contact tracing either, with the proviso that they meet certain conditions.

Beginning immediately, the RCSD will no longer conduct contact tracing; however, you will be notified if your student was exposed to an individual who is COVID-positive in school.

For most parents, the new procedures won’t feel very different. We will still be contacting you if your child is exposed at school, but it will be via email, rather than via phone. If your child tests positive for COVID-19, you should still contact your school nurse for information about quarantine/isolation procedures and return to school.

The conditions under which we will operate moving forward are as follows:

When informed of a COVID-19 positive diagnosis, the RCSD will contact:

The Parents/Guardians of COVID-Positive Students to:

• Share isolation/quarantine requirements with the student’s family via email, including:
• -Number of isolation days required
• -Criteria for shortened isolation
• Provide a link to the return to school health attestation form one day prior to return to school. See a sample of the form here

The Parents/Guardians of Close School-Related Contacts of the COVID-Positive Students to:

• Notify the parents/guardians of students who have been exposed at school via email
• Ask them to monitor for symptoms and notify the school nurse if symptoms appear
• For unvaccinated/partially-vaccinated students:
• -Offer the option to participate in Test-to-Stay program
• -Explain the option to quarantine and live stream school and provide:
• –Quarantine recommendations
• –Criteria for shortened quarantine
• -Provide a link to the return to school health attestation form one day prior to return to school. See a sample of the form here

The Entire School Community:

• Daily 7:00 p.m. notification of positive COVID-19 cases will continue until further notice
  I will hold two Google Meet Q&A sessions to discuss the new procedures:
• Friday, January 21, at 9:30 a.m. – GOOGLE MEET LINK
• Friday, January 21, at 5:00 p.m. – GOOGLE MEET LINK

Thank you so much for your patience and understanding as we continue to navigate the ever-changing guidance and surprises of the pandemic. It is clear from our data that the situation is rapidly improving. I am optimistic that we will soon be returning to a more typical school experience in Rye. I am grateful to our faculty, staff, custodians, nurses, and administrators for their resilience and strength that has been so amazing throughout the past few years. It has not been easy and they continue to step up and keep our schools running well. Please join me in thanking them for their efforts.

Sincerely,

Eric Byrne, Ed.D.

Superintendent of Schools

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From: Eric Byrne
Date: Wed, Jan 19, 2022 at 7:06 PM
Subject: A Message from the Superintendent
To: Rye City School District Recipients

Dear RCSD Community,

For the time being, I will be sending out one notification of positive cases to the community each night, rather than sending individual school notifications. As a reminder, you can see the complete log of notifications on the COVID page of the District’s website.

The District was informed today of the following individuals who have tested positive for COVID-19:

• 4 individuals at Rye High School – two last in school on January 14, one on January 18, and one on January 19 – no school-related quarantines required
• 5 individuals at Rye Middle School – one last in school on January 14 and four on January 18 – no school-related quarantines required
• 2 individuals at Midland School – one last in school on January 14 and one on January 18 – no school-related quarantines required
• 3 individuals at Osborn School – one last in school on January 13 and two on January 18 – no school-related quarantines required

The individuals are currently in quarantine. Due to federal health privacy laws, additional information about the individuals cannot be released.

Please be assured that we will continue to do everything in our power to keep the Rye City School District community safe.

Sincerely,

Eric Byrne, Ed.D.

Superintendent of Schools