Illness and Allergy Letter to Families

Dear North Smithfield Families,

As we have been closing out hybrid instruction and expanding in-person instruction, we have been reminding families that the intent of Distance Learning was to accommodate continuous instruction for full-time at-home students, students on the hybrid schedule, and students who have to quarantine. 
Unfortunately, we have received multiple reports of students falling back on Distance Learning because they: 

• Slept late, 
• Claimed they missed the bus, 
• Decided on their own to attend classes online instead of in-person, 
• Went on family vacations while school was in session. 

In these cases, Distance Learning was used as a convenience and not for its original intent.   
Our reminder was intended to end this behavior, and not to deny instruction to those with medical reasons and who may need to temporarily isolate at home

Quarantine, Illness, and Allergies
As you know, families are required to fill out a daily wellness screening before sending their children to school. Now that we have more than 80% of our students in the school buildings four days a week, this is especially important. We ask that you please be diligent about completing this daily screening. 
Children who are supposed to be learning in person are expected to be in school, and they are not permitted to participate in classes virtually when absent. However, if your child must be in isolation or quarantine, then participation in virtual instruction is permitted. Please follow these guidelines to help us support your child appropriately:

• One Symptom: If your child has just one possible symptom of COVID, and it isn’t a symptom you associate with seasonal allergies, please keep your child home, call the school office to report your child sick along with the nature of the illness/symptom. If the illness aligns with any of the COVID symptoms, you may request online instruction. You should also contact your pediatrician for further guidance.

• Two or More Symptoms: If your child exhibits two or more possible symptoms of COVID, please keep your child home, call the school office to report your child sick along with the nature of the illness/symptoms, request online instruction, and schedule a PCR COVID test. While your child isolates and waits for his or her PCR test results he or she can attend classes online. 
• Seasonal Allergies - even if allergies are typical for your child - you must be thinking in terms of COVID when they first start. The first time your child has symptoms, keep your child at home, call the office to report your child sick along with the nature of the illness/symptoms, request online instruction, contact your pediatrician, and schedule a PCR test. If the test is negative, you may send your child to school daily as long as the symptoms do not change and additional symptoms do not develop. We will also accept official documentation from a doctor’s office regarding a seasonal recurrence of allergies. 
• In all the situations above, while your child is self-isolating and waiting for a COVID test and/or test results, he or she is considered under quarantine and will be allowed to participate in virtual instruction. In all cases you must: 
  • Call the school office before the start of the school day to report your child sick along with the nature of the illness/symptoms. If the illness aligns with any of the COVID symptoms, you may request online instruction.
  • You should immediately schedule a COVID PCR test at https://covid.ri.gov/testing/testing-k-12-students-and-staff 
  • While you await test results your child may continue virtual instruction. PCR test results are typically available within 48 hours of testing. Please note that during any time of isolation or quarantine your child will not be permitted to participate in after-school extracurricular activities or athletics. 
  • Before your child is permitted to return to school in-person, you will need to provide to the school nurse an official doctor’s note or an official negative PCR COVID test result, as well as a completed Return to School After Illness Attestation form. https://health.ri.gov/publications/assessments/After-Illness-Return-Attestation.pdf
• If your child does develop COVID, or if your child is identified as a close contact of someone with COVID, participation in virtual instruction is permitted for the length of your child’s quarantine. Please be sure that the school office is aware of the situation. 
• If your child is too sick to attend classes, even online, also notify the school. Make-up work will be available when he or she feels better. 

While we all eagerly anticipate a return to normal, please remember that for us COVID is still very much our daily reality, especially as more students return to in-person instruction and the numbers of positive cases are again on the rise across the state. We want to continue to expand in-person instruction, and continue moving forward without risking a backslide. 

​As always, feel free to reach out to your school staff or school nurse with any questions. 

• Michael St. Jean, Superintendent