Important: COVID policy changes at SET

[prin...@sethigh.org]

Dear Students, Parents, and Guardians,

• COVID-19 Negative Test required (we will test at school if your at-home test was used)
• New COVID-19 policies (masking and lunch)
• A word about school safety at SET
• Choosing classes for the Spring Term (next week)
• Minimum day on Thursday (1/6).  Students released at 12:45 PM

First, happy holidays!  I hope you all had an uneventful two weeks off and were able to enjoy the holidays.  I am looking forward to having everyone back on Monday!

COVID-19 Negative Test required (we will test at school if your at-home test was used)

To make sure that we start the new year as safely as possible, we are requiring that everyone show proof of a negative COVID-19 test before entering the building on Monday.  Ideally, all of our students will use the at-home COVID tests that we provided prior to the break, but in the event that you used the test for an emergency, students can be tested at school when they arrive on Monday morning.  In order of preference, this is what we would like you to do over the coming days:

• Each at-home test kit contained two tests.  Use one test today, Janary 1st (or yesterday if you are on top of things and followed the original instructions!), and the second on Monday morning (January 3rd).  Take a photo of Monday's negative test result with the student's phone so that they can show it to us on Monday morning.  If you can, please also log the test result using the website as instructed prior to the break: https://my.primary.health/l/sethigh.  We would rather you take a photo of the test if you are short on time, so please at least take the photo.
  
  
• If you already used one of the tests for other reasons (that is ok; we get that life happens), please save the remaining test for Monday morning.  Follow the same procedure for that negative result as above.
  
  
• If you already used the tests or you did not pick one up, no problem.  Just get to school a little earlier than normal if you can.  We anticipate that we'll have a bit of a wait to take the test and it take an additional 15 minutes to get the results.  Do not worry about it if you cannot change your morning routine.  The teachers know that some students may be late to their 1st period class.
  
  
• The final option is to get tested on your own, but tests have been hard to come by this break, so that's probably not a viable option.

A couple of things to note:

• No staff or students will be allowed into the building until they have proof of a recent negative COVID test.  We will perform all tests outside.
• Our tests are self-swabbed.  The student is given a nasal swab and swabs themselves.  We simply verify that the swab was done correctly.
• Don't bother sending in the at-home test kit with the student if you are confused about how to use it.  It will be more efficient for us to just test them using our tests than to try to figure out how to use the at-home test kit.
• In case you missed it earlier, please take a photo of Monday's negative test result with the student's phone.  If the student doesn't have a phone, email the photo to prin...@sethigh.org with the student's name in the subject line.  Only do this if the student doesn't have a phone, please, because it will be much quicker for us to just look at a photo as the student enters the building.
• Students, please avoid hugging your friends when you see them.  Physical touch is an automatic close contact even if it happens outside while wearing a mask.  If your friend happens to test positive, that will trigger an automatic quarantine.  If you have to hug, please wait until after you both have confirmed negative tests.

New COVID-19 policies (masking and lunch)

The Omicron variant of COVID-19 has been moving quickly throughout the US and it is suspected to be behind the increase in the positive COVID-19 cases we are seeing in San Diego.  In an effort to keep our school open for the remainder of the year and to respond to the increased contagiousness of the Omicron variant, we are instituting the following policy changes effective immediately:

• Students and staff are strongly encouraged to get a booster shot as soon as possible.  The boosters are expected to be available for ages 12 and older next week and are currently available for anyone 16 or older.  For more information about the effectiveness of the booster against Omicron, please refer to the CDC guidance on this issue.
• Going forward, all students and staff will be on a rotation to be COVID-19 tested once per week.  If you prefer to schedule the testing yourself, we will need proof of a negative test result from a medical facility once per week.  Home testing kits will not serve as proof of a negative test result.  We will start the weekly testing next week since all students will be tested on Monday this week.
• Throughout the remainder of the year, any student or staff member who has any of the typical COVID symptoms (even mild cold-like symptoms) will need to be tested before they enter into the school building.  If someone begins to feel sick while at school, please go to the front-office immediately to be tested.
• A negative COVID test from the day before does not mean that you do not have COVID now.  Every day that you have symptoms, you must let us know so that we can test you.  It is so much easier for us to do a test than to deal with the consequences of you potentially spreading COVID to others, so please let us test you!
• All eating (including during lunch) must now be done outside.  You are still welcome to be in the school during lunch time, but if you plan on eating, you must eat outside first before returning to the den.  To make this absolutely clear, masks must be worn 100% of the time when you are inside the building.
• All masks must be snug fitting, cover the nose, have loops that go around the ear, have at least 2 layers of material, and not have a vent.  Gaiters do not meet this criteria.  We have plenty of masks that do fit the criteria and you will be asked to wear one of our masks if yours does not meet the recommended level of protection.
• The CDC guidance on quarantining and isolating was modified last week, but as of today, the decision tree for the County of San Diego has not changed so we must follow that until it does.  For now, students and staff must still quarantine for 14 days if exposed to COVID and isolate for 10 days if they test positive.  We expect this to change shortly.

Thank you for helping us keep the community safe and helping us keep our doors open.  The changes may create a little discomfort, but no none of us wants to return to on-line school so hopefully everyone agrees that this is worth it.

The most important thing is for us all to be honest with one another.  If you used an at-home COVID-test for a non-school purpose, just let us know and we'll move on.  Please don't lie to us and pretend that your aunt's negative test from last week is your negative test from this week.  If you were feeling a little sick on a prior day but didn't really think anything about it until now, let us know the exact dates that you were sick so that we can protect those who you may have come into contact with.  We all make mistakes.  Own up to them and let's move on!

A word about school safety at SET

Thank you to those who reported the safety concerns with the TikTok threat on Friday, Dec. 17th.  It is so important for us all to be looking out for one another and never assuming that someone else has a situation handled.  If you ever see something, say something!  For those who may have been happily oblivious to the threat on that Friday, it was a non-specific threat that involved every school in the United States.  There have been a series of these TikTok "pranks" that thankfully our students have been mature enough to not participate in.  The threat on that Friday went well beyond a "prank" and impacted the education of millions of students around the country.  Not funny at all.  Some of our students stayed home as a result as well, so the impact was felt even at our school.

Parents and students, please know that the reason we will keep our school safe is because of the relationships that those in our community have with each other.  Our students are always letting us know when there is a safety concern because they care about our community and because they care about their fellow students.  We make a concerted effort as a staff to know each student, to do everything we can to help them not feel alone, and to help them believe that they truly matter.  Our students do the same.  We can never guarantee safety, of course, but we can do everything we can to help everyone in our community feel like they are a genuine part of our community.  Thank you for always doing that!  I think our students know that they can always come to us to talk about anything, and they trust that the staff will treat even the stickiest situations with understanding and grace, but it never hurts to remind you: if you see something, say something!  So many of our students have been steered away from dangerous self-harm situations because of the courage of their friends.  Be there for your friends, and be grateful when they are there for you.

Specifically regarding the threat on December 17th, we did have prior knowledge of that threat thanks to the many eyes in our school community.  Our staff was extra vigilant that day, but we did make a conscious decision to not feed into the media panic since there was no specific threat to our school.  I wish there was a way for me to communicate that "we have it" without alarming everyone, but alas, that's not possible.  I apologize if it seemed that we didn't "have it", but hopefully we made the correct call.  It was as normal a day as we could have hoped for.  Given the stress that all of our children are living with daily, now, I think that was a win.

Choosing classes for the Spring Term (next week)

We're nearing the end of our Fall Term (finals are on January 21st), which means that it is almost time to choose new classes for the Spring Term.  Students will have completely new schedules (with the exception of math) starting on January 25th.

We will be finalizing the Spring Master Schedule next week and students will begin to sign up for their classes the following week.  Our students sign up for classes in priority order based on seniority (12th grade, then 11th, then 10th, and finally 9th).  We will explain the process when we have the schedule finalized.  Parents do not need to be involved in the process, but they can be if they wish.  All of this happens in CoreCompetency so parents will be able to monitor the whole process.

 

Thanks everyone!  Looking forward to seeing you all on Monday!  As always, let us know if you have any questions or concerns (especially about the new COVID protocols).

Dr. McCurdy