Dear North Colonie Families,
The New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) on January 14, 2022 released Updated Isolation and Quarantine Guidance. This guidance clarified COVID-19 quarantine and isolation procedures and provided Frequently Asked Questions for Schools related to contact tracing. The North Colonie Central School District will begin using these new protocols, aligned to New York State and CDC guidance, effective Thursday, Jan. 20. We have outlined important changes families will want to be familiar with below.
Changes to contact tracing and reporting
Both the New York State Department Health and the New York State Department of Education have said that “schools are no longer required to contact trace when a student or staff member tests positive, has symptoms of, or is exposed to COVID-19.”
We will, however, continue our due diligence with regard to notifying staff and families if we learn about a positive case. At the elementary level, we plan to provide a notification alerting staff and families at the classroom level when there is a positive case in a particular class. At the middle and high school level, since students attend so many different classes during the day, we will be continuing our daily notifications of COVID positives by building.
Navigate the new protocols
To help you navigate through the recent changes in guidance from the New York State Department of Health, we have developed flowcharts indicating the necessary steps you must take if your child tests positive for COVID-19, has COVID-19 like symptoms, or has a COVID-19 exposure.
Layered mitigation strategies
We will continue to use layered mitigation strategies including testing, social distancing, masking, enhanced ventilation, cleaning and sanitization protocols.
COVID-19 tests
We would also like to assist you with getting COVID-19 testing for your children.
- Parents/guardians may pick up rapid test kits for your children at the Goodrich Building located at 91 Fiddlers Lane (M-F; 8 a.m. – 4 p.m.).
- If your child is sent home sick from school, you may request that the health office give you a test kit when you pick up your child.
- Our clinic at 91 Fiddlers Lane is open every weekday from 1 – 5 p.m. and from 10 a.m. -1 p.m. on weekends if you would like to get a PCR test for your child. You can learn more about the clinic here.
- Order test kits free of charge from the government at https://www.covidtests.gov/.
Illness & missed work
We ask that you continue to monitor your child’s health and keep them home if they are sick. We know that students can often get worried about missing work when they are absent, and we want you to know that we will work to support your children when they are absent and when they return to school so that they can catch up on any work that they missed without penalty.
A friendly reminder to use our Student Absence Form to report your child’s absence from school (even if it’s not COVID-19 related). After completing this form, you do not need to contact your child’s school unless you have questions.
Please do not use this form for an early dismissal or late arrival for a student. Please contact your child’s attendance office.
Click here for our STUDENT ABSENCE FORM.
As always, we appreciate your support as we continue to work together to keep our students safely in school.
Sincerely,
Joseph Corr
Superintendent