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Health and safety update
8/4/2021 -- The below letter was sent to all Parkway parents and staff.
As we plan for the new school year, we continue to review current guidance and health recommendations from the CDC, St. Louis County Department of Public Health and current local health conditions in Parkway zip codes which you can see on our Community Health Dashboard. All Parkway zip codes have moved into accelerated or high rates of illness in the past few weeks.
Our goals for this year are to keep everyone healthy and avoid disruptions to in-person learning as much as possible. In order to do this, we will need to have some safety measures in place based on the current recommendations and local health conditions, which we know may change throughout the year.
For the start of the 2021-22 school year, you can expect:
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Masks will be required inside all Parkway schools and buildings until further notice.
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Masks will be optional outdoors for all students and staff, including recess.
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Masks are required on all forms of public transportation including school buses.
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We will continue to use other basic health and safety measures at school including at least three feet of social distancing, frequent hand washing, routine cleaning and disinfecting and reminding everyone to stay home if they are not feeling well.
Here are some important things to keep in mind regarding masks and vaccination.
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The CDC and the American Academy of Pediatrics recommend children wear masks in school, regardless of vaccination status, especially when there is high community transmission of cases locally.
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We highly encourage vaccination for all students and staff. If you are vaccinated, you are exempt from quarantine, per the health department, as long as you do not have symptoms.
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If you are vaccinated, we ask you to consider sharing your vaccination record. Sharing proof of vaccination is entirely voluntary for all staff, but it will save you time in the event you become a close contact with a positive case at work. You will receive more information soon about how to share your vaccine information if you choose. Providing vaccine information will also help us measure vaccination rates among our staff and students and guide our decisions in the future. We are also asking families to voluntarily provide proof of vaccination for our students in order to achieve the same goals.
The Parkway community is exceptional. We expect our families and staff to do what is best for themselves, their neighbors and our school community. We have high expectations for our staff and students and are confident they will make informed decisions based on current health conditions knowing their decisions impact many others.
In the coming weeks, we will have even more detailed information about health and safety plans for the upcoming school year. Despite some continued challenges, we are very excited to have everyone back together soon. We look forward to celebrating a new beginning this year and that we are back full-time, five days a week with more familiar learning experiences for our students and families.
Thank you for your support. We can’t wait to see you!