January 18, 2022
Dear Community Members, Staff, Students and Parents and Guardians -
This is the week that the District will be seeking input from all stakeholders regarding the characteristics that they would like to see in their next Superintendent of Schools. Our consultant will be facilitating in-person meetings as follows:
Wednesday, January 19 - 2:10pm in the lunch room with our classified staff
Wednesday, January 19 - 3:10pm in the lunch room with our certificated staff
Wednesday, January 19 - time TBD with the student leaders
He will also be facilitating a zoom meeting with all interested community members, beginning at 7:00pm on Thursday, January 20. The link for this meeting is as follows:
Join Zoom Meeting
https://zoom.us/j/99606999215?pwd=WXptWXhRZG1WdDVwQ2NnbCtuU09zZz09
Meeting ID: 996 0699 9215
Password: 2kwwT6
Dial by your location
+1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)
Meeting ID: 996 0699 9215
Password: 414134
There will also be an online survey for any interested community members. The survey will be available in English and in Spanish. The survey will go live today, Tuesday, January 18, and close on Monday, January 24.
The English link is:
https://surveymonkey.com/r/ToutleLakeEnglish
and the Spanish link is:
We are hoping that as many community members as possible will participate in this process as their feedback is strongly encouraged and desired by our local school board.
Thank you in advance for your support and participation.
Sincerely,
Bob Garrett
Superintendent
__________________________________________________________________________
January 12, 2022
Toutle Lake School District Staff/Parents/Guardians and Students –
Yes, once in a while things do not change. For example, we continue to complete testing three times a week for all athletes, coaches, trainers, and support personnel, regardless of vaccination status. Spectators still need to continue wearing masks when at indoor activities. However, some things change fairly regularly. And early January, we saw evidence of that once again.
On January 7th, the state health guidance changed with respect to isolation and quarantine. Who must quarantine? Students and staff who come into contact with someone with COVID-19 must quarantine for at least 5 days starting the day after their close contact with a person who has tested positive for COVID-19. This includes students or staff who are: 1) Age 18 or older and who have completed the primary series (or single dose of J&J) of recommended vaccine but have not received a booster shot when eligible, or 2) Those who are not vaccinated or have not completed a primary vaccine series (or single dose of J&J).
Who does not need to quarantine? 1) Students and staff ages 18 or older who have received all recommended vaccine doses, including boosters, 2) People ages 5-17 years who have completed the primary series of COVID-19 vaccines, 3) People who have had a confirmed case of COVID-19 within the last 90 days.
When can quarantine end? Quarantine can end after 5 full days beginning after the last close contact (the date of last close contact is considered day 0) if no symptoms have developed and after receiving a negative test result from a test taken no sooner than day 5. Students and staff must wait to receive a negative test result from a test taken no sooner than day 5 post-exposure and provide the negative test documentation to the school before returning to school on day 6. Negative test results may come from a health care provider, pharmacy, community-based site or at-home test.
If an individual or student who is a close contact does not get tested they should quarantine for 10 days after the last close contact. If any COVID-19 symptoms develop during the 10 days, the individual should isolate and get tested. In some circumstances a 14-day quarantine may be advised by a provider or public health.
We know that this all can get very confusing, so feel free to give the school a call and ask for our school nurse, our assistant to the school nurse, or Lynne Williams. We are waiting for new flow charts from DOH regarding the above info, plus info regarding protocol for those who test positive for COVID-19. We will make those flow charts available shortly after we receive them.
On a more enlightening note, our superintendent search consultant will be conducting a zoom meeting (100% virtual) at 7:00pm on Thursday, January 20. The purpose of the meeting will be for him to receive input from community members as to what characteristics they would like to see in their next Superintendent of Schools. The link will be the same link used for regular school board meetings and can be found here on the website.
Thank you for your continued support for the TLSD community.
Sincerely,
Bob Garrett
Superintendent