Dear Parents and Guardians of Onalaska Students:

I am more than happy to announce that we will be bringing back all students for face-to-face learning beginning Monday, April 19, 2021.  

Based on the Department of Health guidance dated March 25, 2021, we are now allowed to have classrooms where students only need to be 3 ft. apart instead of the 6 ft. we have been using since the beginning of the school year.  This allows us to accommodate more students.  We have had to make some adjustments in student schedules and placement of desks/workstations, but our staff has done a great job in making these adjustments.

I have attached the information that we will be following in order to make this adjustment in student schedules.  It is critical that we continue to follow the guidance in order to keep students and staff safe and healthy.

One of the biggest changes is we are now asking you, as parents and guardians, to monitor the health of your students prior to them coming to school.  The new guidance allows for you to make the decision whether to send your student to school or not.  Please, be mindful of the Covid-19 symptoms and keep your student home if they exhibit one or more of the symptoms listed on the attachment.  We can make this work, we just need your assistance.  As always, if you are keeping your student home, please notify the school so that the absence can be excused.

Also, if you or your student has tested positive for Covid-19 or has been exposed to someone who has tested positive, we still need to have you contact Catie Werner or me to let us know.  We still need that information for contact tracing.

I have been very proud of the work our staff has done in making school safe.  I am equally proud of the support from you, our parents and guardians, in supporting our efforts to provide an educational program that is unlike anything we have done before.  We have a long way to go to get out of this pandemic, let’s just hope that when we do finally get back to the way things should be, we never have to do this again.

Our staff is excited to have all students back on Monday the 19^th.  Let’s finish the year strong and hope for a better situation when school starts up again in the Fall.

Jeff Davis

Superintendent

April 19, 2021

Returning All Students, Monday.

Here is guidance for the return of all students on April 19, 2021. Some of these will be a work in progress as we make adjustments to our schedules and class sizes.

1. All students and staff are required to wear masks or shields.
2. All students must be 3 ft. apart.  The easiest way to measure would be from the center of the desk, both front and back and side to side. Students will still need to all face the same direction and not face-to-face. (DOH guidance, March 25, pages 8-9)
3. Staff must maintain 6 ft. distance in meetings and gatherings. They also, as much as possible, maintain a 6 ft. distance from students. (DOH guidance, March 25, page 8)
4. Elementary students will continue to eat meals in their classrooms. They must move to 6 ft. distancing for meals.
5. Elementary recess schedule will remain the same.
6. MS and HS will resume two lunch schedules.  Emphasizing that students need to be at least 6 ft. apart, in cohorts as much as possible, and wear masks when not eating.
7. After MS lunches, we will need assistance to quickly clean the cafeteria to accommodate elementary specialists with their afternoon schedules.
8. Attendance is required each day.  Those students who have demonstrated success with distance learning, both with daily attendance/participation and are making progress academically, may choose to stay with distance learning.  Parents/guardians must notify the building principal if they choose to have their student continue with asynchronous learning.
9. Students and staff must continue to monitor distance protocols when moving students from one location to another or during passing time. This will be difficult in MS since we only have one hallway.
10. Temperature checks will cease for students. Students will need to stay home if they have a temperature or are not feeling well. We need parents/guardians to monitor temperature and other Covid symptoms. Continue to use the CDC and DOH guidance on symptoms related to Covid-19.
11. All staff will need to continue checking into their school’s office or other location as designated by their supervisor to take temperatures and sign off on the attestation form each day.  This continues to be mandatory for all staff.
12. Hand-washing and disinfectants will still be required.  Desks must be disinfected after each use.  Maintenance staff will continue to disinfect classrooms each night.
13. Open windows as much as possible to allow fresh air in your classrooms and instructional areas.
14. All school calendar schedules will remain in effect.

Here are the health screening criteria, from DOH, that need to be asked each day before sending students to school:

Does your child have any of the following:

Fever (100.4 or higher) or chills Headache

Cough Recent loss of taste or smell

Shortness of breath                                   Difficulty breathing

Fatigue Congestion or runny nose

Muscle or body aches Nausea or vomiting

Diarrhea                                                   Sore Throat

If so, please keep your child home.