Superintendent McGovern and the Lake-Lehman Board of School Directors, in efforts to continue mitigating risk of Covid-19 transmission to students and staff throughout the 2021–2022 school year, have implemented the following:
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LLSD COVID-19 Case Count Summary - 2021–2022
Note: Case counts are calculated using a rotating 14 day window; counting confirmed positive cases that were present at LLSD during the applicable contact tracing window specific to each case.
General Protocols
Lake-Lehman School District has remained committed to pandemic compliance efforts and has successfully collaborated with necessary governmental departments and health agencies regarding maintaining the safety of our students and staff throughout the school year. We have taken extensive steps as a District to invest in the well-being of our stakeholders while applying a conservative Covid-19 response protocol. This includes, but is not limited to, appropriate identification, isolation & quarantine, contact tracing, incident tracking, reporting, communication efforts and exceptional deep cleaning and air purification endeavors.
- UPDATE: August 31, 2021 – Governor Wolf announced the Order of the Acting Secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Health mandating face coverings within K-12 public schools, effective September 7, 2021.
- August 16, 2021 - The District has approved their ARP-ESSER Health & Safety Plan for the 2021-2022 School year, which strongly encourages the use of masking, while allowing families and individuals personal discretion, in accordance with CDC recommendations.
- Any circumstances that emerge to modify or implement new masking mandates will supersede District Level decision.
- School transportation is considered public transportation and mask wearing is mandatory on all school sponsored transportation vehicles; in accordance with CDC mandate.
- Alternative classroom/cafeteria arrangements will be designed and implemented to provide for proper social distancing in accordance with governmental guidelines and CDC recommendations.
- The District is modifying classroom and common area layouts with the goal of 3 feet of social distancing whenever feasible.
- Daily temperature screening will be conducted upon arrival each day for all students, faculty & staff.
- All students and employees are encouraged to stay home when feeling ill, being tested, or after being in contact with a Covid-19 positive individual. Please contact your building principal for further instructions.
- Hand washing and/or sanitizing resources will be readily available.
- Education of associated signs/symptoms and relevant hygiene practices will be ongoing, including posting educational resources/signs in high traffic areas to promote good hygiene practices and the identification of signs/symptoms.
- Students will restrict or limit shared materials and will be provided the opportunity to clean and disinfect them throughout the day. The District will provide sanitizing/disinfecting products within all classrooms for this purpose.
Educational Options
- Students & families will have the option to choose between traditional, face-to-face education, or cyber school.
- Cyber school is provided through Edmentum with Calvert Learning being utilized as the platform for grades K-5 and Courseware for grades 6-12.
- Students wishing to switch between educational platforms are encouraged to limit such changes to occur with the transition of marking periods.
- Please visit our Cyber School website for more information - https://www.llsd.org/Cyber_School
Masking
- UPDATE: August 31, 2021 – Governor Wolf announced the Order of the Acting Secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Health mandating face coverings within K-12 public schools, effective September 7, 2021.
- August 16, 2021 - The District has approved their ARP-ESSER Health & Safety Plan for the 2021-2022 School year, which strongly encourages the use of masking, while allowing families and individuals personal discretion, in accordance with CDC recommendations.
- School transportation is considered public transportation and mask wearing is mandatory on all school sponsored transportation vehicles; in accordance with CDC mandate.
- Masks & face shields will be readily available at all school campuses for any individual in need.
- Any circumstances that emerge to modify or implement new masking mandates will supersede District Level decision.
Contact Tracing
- District administration will conduct thorough contact tracing upon receiving notification of a positive case.
- In most cases, contact tracing will identify individuals determined to be close contacts within the 48 hours prior to the positive case’s symptom onset or test date, through the final date of contact within the school or extra-curricular setting.
- Close contacts are defined as any individual within a 6 foot radius of a confirmed positive case for 15 minutes or greater.
- 15 minutes may be consecutive and/or cumulative.
- Masks are not considered as exclusionary from being designated as a close contact.
- Special circumstances must be reviewed by the Covid-19 Team.
- All positive cases and contact tracing endeavors are completed in partnership with the PA DOH and comply with all necessary reporting and mitigation measures.
Quarantine
- Quarantine and/or isolation timelines are in accordance with all CDC and DOH guidance in place at the time of contact tracing.
- Quarantine and/or isolation dates, schedules and testing opportunities, will be determined with each individual and customized to their personal circumstances.
- Timelines extended by DOH, CDC, or personal physician will supercede any District level decision.
- Fully vaccinated individuals are encouraged to share vaccination dates with the Covid-19 Team to determine potential release from quarantine.
- Within 24–48 hours of being quarantined, students will be provided with course work either via Google Classroom or to be picked up at the student’s individual school.
Vaccination
- The District encourages all eligible individuals to become vaccinated when eligible.
- To date, multiple community, student and employee vaccination events/clinics have been held in-house and in conjunction with off-campus partners & plans are in place to establish future vaccination events.
- Anyone in need of a Covid-19 vaccine should contact Tabitha Miscavage Spagnuolo at 570-255-2707 or MiscavageT@LLSD.org.
- COVID-19 Vaccination Information: https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/covid-19/index.html
- LLSD COVID-19 Vaccination Event: September 28 & October 19, 2021
Ventilation, Sanitization & PPE
LLSD has elected to conduct an aggressive cleaning, disinfecting & ventilation program for the 2021-2022 school year. All custodial staff are diligently working to disinfect school facilities ongoing throughout, and after, each day with the mindset of treating every day as a deep intensive cleaning day. These efforts are designed to provide the ultimate disinfection & ventilation routine by treating every day as though the virus has been present; even without a positive case being identified.
- Air Quality:
- The District has expanded upon existing HVAC maintenance plans and schedules to work in tandem with all building administrators to ensure suitable air quality is maintained in all facilities. The Plan includes schedules to replace ventilation filters and provide regular maintenance servicing to all air handlers.
- The District has purchased and installed Global Plasma Solutions air quality systems in all facilities utilized by students, faculty and staff.
- Global Plasma solutions utilizes patented technology to clean the air by introducing ions into the space via the airflow in ventilation systems.
- The GPS air system inactivates 99.8% of SARS-CoV-2 in 30 minutes**
https://globalplasmasolutions.com/third-party-testing
- Cleaning & Disinfecting Supplies:
- Disinfectant Sprayers:
- The District has purchased electrostatic sprayers to be mandatorily used by custodial staff in the disinfection of all facilities, both ongoing throughout each school day and in the deep cleaning process of confirmed cases.
- These sprayers allow the LLSD custodial staff to efficiently disinfect open areas such as classrooms, hallways, restrooms, gymnasiums, and cafeterias utilizing advanced wrap-around technologies.
- LLSD has partnered with Cintas for the purpose of providing a complex system of cleaning solutions tailored to specific cleaning, sanitizing and disinfecting needs, including those approved and included on the EPA Disinfectants for use Against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) list.
- Disinfectant Sprayers:
- Personal Protective Equipment & Supplies:
- LLSD has purchased plentiful PPE supplies for all buildings including single use individual drinking bottles, gloves, disposable masks, wipes, disinfectant supplies, digital thermometers, hand sanitizer & free standing stations, plexiglass partitions, non-contact water bottle filling stations and face shields .
- Supplies are distributed to all classrooms and are replenished consistently throughout the day to ensure availability and encourage on-going use.