South Orangetown Central School District

Testing and Contact Tracing Plan

The reopening plan will support South Orangetown CSD leaders in their ongoing collaboration with their school communities, Department of Health, and health professionals about reopening strategies, minimizing the spread of COVID-19, and continued monitoring of disease levels. SOCSD has a dual screening protocol with both passive and active screening for students, staff, and essential visitors in each of our four school buildings.

SCREENING PROTOCOLS

  • SOCSD will not require COVID-19 testing of students and/or staff before school begins. However, we will continue to adhere to New York State Department of Health, New York State and CDC guidance.
  • SOCSD will be implementing active and passive screening of students and staff in collaboration with the Rockland County Department of Health.
  • Students and staff are required to abide by the New York State COVID-19 Travel Advisory, which is linked to the Reopening webpage. The school district cannot monitor the movement or behavior of students and staff outside of school and must rely on everyone to comply with State guidelines.
  • Students required to quarantine should contact their school nurse and will participate via remote learning for the duration of their quarantine as directed by the Rockland County Department of Health.
  • In the event that the school district discovers that a student or staff member is not compliant with State quarantine guidelines and comes to school, that individual will be sent home immediately and reported to the Department of Health.
  • Each morning that they are scheduled to attend school, all students will be required to submit the home screening COVID-19 questionnaire to confirm that they are symptom free and are not required to quarantine due to travel or exposure to a person who has tested positive for COVID-19.
  • Parents will be required to perform a temperature check of their children. Questionnaires will be submitted electronically to school administrators for daily review.
  • Parents will need to submit separate questionnaires for each child prior to the start of the school day.
  • Staff will be required to self-screen for symptoms by electronically completing a daily COVID-19 screening questionnaire prior to entering all district property. In the case that a staff member answers yes to one or more of the items in the questionnaire, he/she is required to stay home and contact their direct supervisor. Supervisors will then contact the Director of Staff Relations for further instruction.
  • As they arrive at school, students and staff will be actively screened with equipment that will identify those of 100.0 degrees Fahrenheit or greater.
    • Those identified with a temperature of 100.0 degrees Fahrenheit or greater will be discreetly routed to the nurse’s office for a secondary temperature check and screening.
    • If the secondary screening indicates potential signs of COVID-19, they will be sent home immediately. Students will be isolated and parents will be required to pick them up within 30 minutes. Please make sure that you have an emergency plan in place for this purpose.
  • It is critically important that parents keep children who are not feeling well or are symptomatic at home.
  • Our school nurses will also continue with standard procedures for students who become ill, injured or require medical attention at school.
  • In the event of a positive COVID-19 test, parents must notify their child’s school nurse immediately. Staff members must notify their immediate supervisor.
    • Once notified, District staff will contact the Rockland County Department of Health who will conduct contact tracing.
    • In the event that a building must be closed, staff and parents would be notified immediately.
    • The affected building will close for a minimum of 48 hours to deep clean and disinfect.
    • The school will shift to 100% remote learning until the District determines, in coordination with the Department of Health, that we are cleared to reopen.
  • Return-to-school procedures for a positive COVID-19 test:
    • A letter stating they are released from isolation — either from the health department or their medical provider.
    • It has been at least ten (10) days since the individual first started experiencing symptoms.
    • It has been at least three (3) days since the individual has had a fever (without using fever reducing medicine), AND
    • It has been at least three (3) days since the individual symptoms improved, including cough and shortness of breath.
  • Return-to-school procedures for someone sent home based on the secondary screening and/or COVID-19 symptoms:
  • They must be fever-free for at least 24 hours, without use of fever-reducing medications, and are symptom-free.
  • They must provide a note from their medical provider clearing them to return to school, AND
  • A negative COVID-19 diagnostic test result be produced.
  • For other illnesses, students and staff must be fever-free for at least 24 hours, without use of fever-reducing medications.

Ending Isolation of Person Potentially Exposed to COVID-19
The CDC has specific guidance for discontinuation of person in isolation who may have been exposed to COVID-19. As this guidance is subject to change, the South Orangetown CSD will refer to the below link for ongoing guidance around this issue:
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/hcp/disposition-in-home-patients.html.

COVID-19 TESTING

In accordance with CDC recommendation, the South Orangetown CSD will not conduct COVID-19 testing or require diagnostic or antibody testing of students or staff members. The decision of whether a test needs to be conducted will be determined by a healthcare provider or the RCHD.

CONTACT TRACING

In collaboration with the Rockland County Department of Health, the SOCSD nursing team and Office of Staff Relations will support contact tracing if a student or staff member is diagnosed as COVID positive. The district will assist with contact tracing by:

  • Keeping accurate attendance records of students and staff members.
  • Ensuring student schedules are up to date.
  • Keeping a log of any visitors which includes date, time, and where in the school they visited.
  • Assisting local health departments in tracing all contacts of the individual at school in accordance with the protocol, training, and tools provided in accordance with the below link: https://coronavirus.health.ny.gov/new-york-state-contact-tracing

Note: Confidentiality must be maintained as required by federal and state laws and regulations. School staff should not try and determine who is to be excluded from school based on contact without guidance and direction from the Rockland County Department of Health.

Please see https://rocklandgov.com/departments/health/coronavirus-covid-19/ or http://www.socsd.org/reopening/ for more information.