Download 2021-22 COVID-19 Prevention Guidance Plan

• At the August 23, 2021 School Board meeting the following guidelines were adopted, per Policy 103 Face Coverings, effective August 30, 2021:
• Students in pre-K (age 2 or older) through grade 8 and all staff, volunteers and visitors working in these schools, as well as Adult Basic Education students and staff located at the Early Learning School, are required to wear masks inside the building on school days between the hours of 7:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. Wearing of masks in buildings outside of these hours is still recommended but not required unless otherwise communicated. For students in pre-K through grade 8, the possibility of moving from “required masking” to “strongly recommended masking” will be considered after an appropriate amount of time elapses from when vaccinations become available for all students in these age groups; assuming local conditions are conducive to such a change. (It should be noted that pre-K through age 11 students are currently not eligible to be vaccinated.)
• That students in grades 9-12 and all staff, volunteers and visitors working within WHS be required to wear masks inside the building between the hours of 7:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. (exception made for indoor physical education classes where greater distancing can occur and for designated MSHSL after-school activities). Careful monitoring will occur at WHS during the early weeks of the school year as consideration is given to the possibility of moving from “required masking” to “strongly recommended masking” if COVID incidents are minimal and local conditions are conducive to making such a change.  Starting the school year with “required masking” is being recommended to help ensure the district does everything possible to minimize viral spread and quarantining of students and staff.
• Students in Wayzata Transition and all staff, volunteers and visitors at the school, are required to wear masks inside the Wayzata Transition School.  Consideration will be given to moving from “required masking” to “strongly recommended masking” if COVID incidents are minimal and local conditions are conducive to making such a change.
• Students in pre-K through grade 12, and the school staff are not required to wear masks outdoors for recess, physical education classes, athletic practices/contests and/or any other outdoor instructional or recreational activities.
• All students and staff riding on school buses to and from school, to special events, field trips, athletic events or any other activity, are required to wear a mask.
• Required pre-K (age 2 or older) through grade 8 students, staff and visitors in district sponsored programs outside the school day, including but not limited to Wayzata Kids childcare, Community Ed youth classes, school clubs and activities.
• For activities held after 6 p.m. on weekday evenings and on weekends, masks are strongly recommended for people of all ages (although not required). This would apply to, but not limited to Community Ed adult enrichment classes and facility rentals and user groups such as church groups, youth sports associations, community clubs and organizations. 
• This guidance will remain in place until such time that masking mitigation strategies might need to become more restrictive or when consideration can be given to implementing less restrictive masking expectations.
• While face shields are an acceptable alternative for those who are medically unable to wear a face mask, it does not provide the same protection for the person wearing the shield or for persons around. For this reason, anyone who is within 6 feet of a person wearing a shield instead of a mask, for 15 minutes or longer over a 24 hours period, will need to be quarantined if they are not wearing a mask or have not been vaccinated.

Exceptions can be made for the following categories of people:

• A person who cannot wear a mask, or cannot safely wear a mask, because of a disability as defined by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) (42 U.S.C. 12101 et seq.). Discuss the possibility of reasonable accommodation with workers who are unable to wear or have difficulty wearing certain types of masks because of a disability.
• A person for whom wearing a mask would create a risk to workplace health, safety, or job duty as determined by the relevant workplace safety guidelines or federal regulations.

Request for Face Covering Medical Exemption

Washing Hands

All Wayzata Public Schools will maintain routines for student hand washing with regular reminders regarding covering coughs/sneezes and other respiratory etiquette reminders. The District provides instruction, signage, facilities, and supplies to encourage regular hand washing and sanitizing. This policy is consistent with MDH: Hand Hygiene (www.health.state.mn.us/people/handhygiene/index.html).

• The District continues to encourage staff and students to wash hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds or use a hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol to clean hands BEFORE and AFTER:
  • Touching your eyes, nose, or mouth
  • Touching your mask
  • Entering and leaving a public place
  • Eating
  • Using the restroom
  • Recess
  • Whenever hands are visibly soiled
  • Touching an item or surface that may be frequently touched by other people, such as door handles, tables, gas pumps, shopping carts, or electronic cashier registers/screens

Physical Spacing

The District encourages the use of strategies to increase the physical space between staff and students, when reasonable, throughout the school day.

• Maintaining Safe Classroom spaces
• Classrooms may be rearranged to allow for more space between students.  We will maintain three feet of distancing as much as possible. 
• Wayzata Cafes
  • Physical spacing of six feet or greater within our Wayzata Cafes, based on grade level size, can be difficult to maintain.  As such, elementary and middle school buildings will be using seating charts to assist in the monitoring of close contacts when necessary.
• We encourage holding staff meetings, training, etc. in a large enough space to accommodate social distancing. Virtual meetings may still be utilized, depending on the size and nature of the meeting.

Cohorting

Cohorting means keeping people together in a small group and having each group stay together throughout an entire day. Cohorting can be used to limit the number of students, teachers, and staff who come in contact with each other, especially when it is challenging to maintain physical distancing, such as among young children, and particularly in areas of moderate-to-high transmission levels.

School principals, teachers and other staff will establish, to the best of their ability and where practical, cohorts of students to minimize the possibility of spread and the burden of contact tracing. Such cohorting is somewhat more attainable at the elementary school level and increasingly difficult in middle school and quite challenging at the high school level due to the wide discrepancy of student academic schedules.

The following policies and procedures are being implemented to assess staff, students, volunteers, and other visitor health status prior to entering the school facilities and for staff to report when they are sick or experiencing symptoms.

Health Screening

• Staff, students as well as parents/guardians are required to self-assess their health status prior to arriving at school facilities. 
• If you are experiencing any symptoms related to COVID-19, you should stay home, and are strongly encouraged to get tested. 
  • Staff are expected to enter notification of illness and symptoms into Frontline. 
  • You are advised to contact your healthcare provider. If you are on the district health insurance, there are online care/telemedicine options. 
• Families should monitor the health of their children and should keep them at home if they show any COVID-19 related symptoms.

Positive COVID-19 Test

The District has implemented measures to ensure that sick or COVID-19 positive staff and students isolate until they are no longer infectious, according to applicable Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) guidance.  

Schools are required to report positive COVID-19 cases to MDH. Families should notify the school if their child tested positive. Families of students and staff members will be notified if an individual has tested positive in their classroom. 

People who test positive for COVID-19, both vaccinated and unvaccinated, must stay home for 10 full days.

COVID-19 Scenarios to Determine Quarantine/Isolation

Quarantine/Isolation of Staff & Students

• We will not be quarantining close contacts who were potentially exposed while at school.  Instead, we will be sending out notices to the classrooms.
  • Household contacts who are not exempt from quarantine, must remain home for 14 full days.  They may return on day 11 if they have a negative molecular or PCR test on day 10 or after.
• The following are exemptions to quarantine.  
  • Fully Vaccinated (14 days from the last primary COVID-19 vaccination)
  • Have had lab confirmed COVID-19 in the past 90 days

WPS recognizes there will be a need to quarantine students at some point during the 2021-2022 school year.  When students need to learn from home during times of isolation (COVID-19 positive) or quarantine (COVID-19 close contact exposure) plans have been established to support students needing to learn from home at each academic level of elementary, middle and high school.

Preschool

• Students in quarantine/isolation will be provided with activities and materials to continue learning from home with a parent or caregiver.
• If feasible, an optional online learning opportunity will be made available to students during the day.
• Students on individual education programs (IEPs) will have a staff person as a point of contact checking in with them on a case-by-case basis.
• If an entire class is quarantined, the classroom teacher will provide at least one hour per class day of online learning activities for part-day classes and at least two hours of online learning activities per class day for classes that meet over 4 hours. 

Elementary

• Students in quarantine/isolation will be able to work from home with staff members whose job it is to support students in quarantine/isolation.  There will be a staff member available to students based on grade level as follows:
  • Kindergarten and 1st grade
  • 2nd and 3rd grade students
  • 4th and 5th grade students
• A staff member will be serving as a point of contact for schools and families to assist with learning support and questions families may have.
• When a student enters into quarantine or isolation, the elementary school will complete a form to notify the quarantine/isolation support team.  A team lead will reach out to families to initiate communication and online support for our elementary students.  Students will be assigned to one of the three quarantine/isolation teachers, depending upon grade level.  These teachers will be proactive in their daily communication with students, having online Zoom/Google Meet availability at different times during the day.

Middle School

• Students will be able to access their work through the online student portal of CANVAS.  Teachers will be available to support students who are in quarantine/isolation during their daily PLC time.  Teachers will be available to work with students either by phone, email, or video conferencing to provide academic support.  

High School

• Students will be able to access their work through the online student portal of CANVAS.  Teachers will be available to support students who are in quarantine/isolation either before school, after school or during their daily OurTime.  Teachers will be available to work with students either by phone, email, or video conferencing to provide academic support.

In their guidance for COVID-19 prevention in K-12 schools, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) stated, “Students benefit from in-person learning, and safely returning to in-person instruction in the fall of 2021 is a priority.” 

There are two primary goals for WPS for the 2021-2022 school year as it relates to COVID-19 protocols.

1. Ensuring the health and well-being of students and staff.
2. Keeping students in school every day throughout the school year.

The focus in keeping students safe, and in school every day will be on mitigation strategies.  To assist with mitigation strategies, the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) allowed for blended learning to be accessible and implemented by school districts.  Wayzata Public Schools applied, and has been approved, for a blended learning model where students learn primarily in the building but (can) receive instruction online for 21% - 50% of their weekly schedule.  This blended learning model will only be used for emergency mitigation strategies based on localized data at each school site.

To move into this blended learning model, it is recognized that:

• Instruction during digital learning time will be provided by the student(s) regular teacher(s)
• Instruction is provided to students using evidence-based practices that include regular, teacher-initiated, meaningful interaction between teachers and students
• Instruction will be consistent with the required days and hours of instruction.

For the latest vaccine information, please visit the vaccine page on the Minnesota Department of Health website.

The following are answers to frequently asked questions regarding COVID-19 testing.  

Q:  Does the school prefer one type of test over the other (antigen vs PCR) and does this preference change if the child is symptomatic or asymptomatic/exposure only?

A: WPS does not endorse any specific test, but a molecular or PCR test is considered more sensitive and preferred, but an antigen test does have high accuracy when a person is symptomatic.  If a person is symptomatic and receives a negative antigen, it is recommended they follow up with a molecular test and remain home while waiting for results. 

Q:  Does the school require proof of the test result?

A: When an individual has been identified as a close contact, they may return on a shortened quarantine after 7 full days of quarantine only if they show proof of a test negative using a molecular or PCR test.  (If a household member tests positive, all individuals must be quarantined for at least 14 days unless they are fully vaccinated or have had COVID-19 in the past 90 days.  They are not able to return early even if they receive a negative PCR or molecular test)

Q:  Is there rapid testing available at school?

A: WPS does not test students on-site at any of our district locations.  Testing sites can be located on the MDH website while we wait on rapid tests families can bring home to use.   

Q:  If a child tests negative for COVID-19 and is fever free for 24 hours without the assistance of fever-reducing medicines, can they return if other symptoms persist?

A: If a person is symptomatic and receives a negative Covid test, we follow the Hennepin County School and Childcare guidelines for when persons should be excluded from participating.  

Q:  If a child travels, do they need to quarantine or have a negative COVID-19 test prior to returning to the classroom? Does this change if the travel is domestic vs international? 

A: We ask that all families follow the testing and quarantine guidance as outlined by the MDH and CDC. Wayzata Public Schools follows the MDH travel guidelines.

The district technology team will work closely with teachers and other staff members to ensure students have all of the technology equipment they need for a successful school year.  Examples include, but are not limited to:

• Students are supported if/when they are in quarantine;
• Students have appropriate access to iPads and software for students that are responsive to their developmental needs and that students know how to use the technology;
• Students have Internet Access at home or through wireless hotspots for home use as needed;
• Staff, students and parents/guardians understand and know how to use student operating systems (Canvas, Seesaw, Google, Zoom, etc.);
• The district is ready for flex solutions to ensure consistency in instructional delivery and maintenance of high expectations; and
• Shared technology spaces and equipment will undergo regular cleaning in labs, etc.

Cleaning and Disinfecting

Wayzata Public Schools has established a regular schedule and checklist for cleaning and disinfecting commonly-touched surfaces, shared items, shared equipment, and high traffic areas. District procedures and protocols meet or exceed all CDC, OSHA, and MDH recommendations, including the use of EPA registered cleaning products on all frequently-used surfaces and materials. 

Schools will follow the COVID-19 disinfecting protocols developed by the District’s Buildings & Grounds department.  Focus will be on cleaning high touch surfaces/areas with our standard cleaning and disinfecting process.

Cleaning supplies available to teachers for cleaning of high touch surfaces in classrooms.

Air and Ventilation Systems

Ventilation is an important factor in preventing COVID-19 transmission indoors. The District has evaluated the operational capacity of indoor ventilation systems and developed a plan to increase and maintain ventilation provided throughout indoor spaces following the guidance of the State of Minnesota and additional recommendations by CDC and ASHRAE (https://www.ashrae.org/). 

• Ventilation and filtration efficiency have been increased to the extent possible within the capability of the building systems.
• The intake percentage of outside air is increased to support the dilution of contaminants, and minimize recirculation, whenever possible, while maintaining indoor air conditions.  
• All air recirculated in the building, including each individual classroom, is filtered using the highest possible MERV rating filters the system is capable of handling.
• Portable air purifiers with a HEPA filter have been provided to all Health offices for enhanced air filtration.

Since systems are reliant on pressurization to circulate air, windows should not be opened as they will negatively impact the system's ability to properly treat and filter the air.

At Wayzata Public Schools, we work to ensure all students feel a sense of belonging and connection to their school where social-emotional, physical and mental health is nurtured and valued. This continues to be a priority during the pandemic. The following resources and supports are available to students and staff:

• Mental Health Screener: The mental health and well-being of our students are our top priority. As part of the district’s ongoing commitment to providing all students with the support they need, Wayzata Public Schools staff will once again be implementing a screener this fall. This screener will help us gain a better understanding of our students’ mental health and well-being, including identifying students who may be having difficulty with attention, depression/anxiety, or conduct that may have gone unrecognized to this point. This screener will not be used to diagnose students, we are only using it to help us identify which students and families may need additional support.
• Mental Health Support Staff: Our district website lists each building's mental health support professional and all of our staff or the organizations listed may be contacted directly with questions that involve your child's well-being. They will be happy to work with you to meet your child's needs at school, at home, and in the community
• Virtual Calming Room: WPS virtual calming rooms were created to assist students and staff in locating different strategies and tools for managing their emotions.The webpage has easy access to stress-reducing activities, including sounds and music, visual and guided relaxation, brain breaks, journaling, puzzles and games, coloring, stretching and movement, live animal cameras, sensory activities, and iPad apps. 
  • Elementary Virtual Calming Room
  • Virtual Calming Room (all ages)
• Relate Counseling: Wayzata Public Schools also has a partnership with Relate Counseling Center to provide co-located mental health services, providing the space for Relate to provide confidential mental health therapy services on-site in each of our schools. School social workers can help families refer students who are in need of Relate services. 
• Wellness Tiplines: Through a link on the middle school and high school websites, community members, including fellow students, can identify middle and high school students about whom there are social-emotional concerns. Reports are forwarded to counselors, social workers, and principals for follow-up. 

If at any time you have concerns about your child's well-being, please, reach out to your building social worker or counselor.  These professionals are there to support you and your child and understand that in order to learn, students need to feel safe.  As we return to school many of our students are going through a variety of emotions and may feel an increase in stress and anxiety. Learning to cope with stress in a healthy way will help our students, the people they care about, and those around them become more resilient.

During school transportation: CDC’s Order applies to all public transportation conveyances including school buses.  Following current federal guidelines and mandates, all individuals riding public transportation (school buses) must wear a mask, regardless of vaccination status, subject to the exclusions and exemptions in CDC’s Order.

Special Education Students and Programs

Wayzata Public Schools recognizes and acknowledges the unique set of challenges that students with disabilities continue to experience during the COVID-19 pandemic. As we are responsible for the free and appropriate public education (FAPE) of our students, we remain committed to meeting the requirements of Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), Part B and Part C.

We are working closely with the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE), the U.S. Department of Education, and the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) as we develop our plans. 

• IEPs will continue to be implemented.
• Students will receive specialized instruction based upon an individual student’s individual needs to ensure each student receives a free and appropriate education.
• Special Services will communicate with school administrators and educators in order to prepare staff to plan for the needs of students eligible for special education, child find activities, evaluations/ re-evaluations and IEP implementation. 
• Wayzata Public Schools may hold in person, virtual meetings, or phone conferences to hold IEP, evaluation, and re-evaluation meetings in accordance with regular due process dates. Please contact Jody Remsing at 763-745-5040 or Jody.Remsing@wayzataschools.org with questions.

504 Plans

Wayzata Public Schools recognizes and acknowledges the unique set of challenges that students with disabilities continue to experience during the COVID-19 pandemic. As we remain responsible for the free and appropriate public education (FAPE) of our students, we remain committed to meeting the requirements of Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. 

We are working closely with the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE), the U.S. Department of Education and the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) as we develop our plans. 

• Section 504 plans will continue to be implemented.
• Wayzata Public Schools will communicate (via phone or virtually) with parents and guardians regarding their child’s services, which may include discussion regarding amending 504 plans to address how best to meet the student’s needs. 
• Special Services will communicate with school administrators and educators in order to prepare staff to plan for the needs of students eligible for 504 plans, child find activities, evaluations/ reevaluations, and 504 plan implementation. 

Please contact Dawn Willson at 763-745-6073 or Dawn.Willson@wayzataschools.org with questions related to Section 504.

• Student meals (breakfast and lunch) will be provided at no charge this year.
• Elementary and middle school students will have assigned seats or tables to support the possible need for contact tracing. High school students will be encouraged to space as much as possible. When possible, students should maintain 3 feet of distance while seated for meals.
• Cafeterias will be cleaned between lunch periods.

Visitors to schools will be limited to parents/guardians at the start of the 2021-2022 school year for those with a need to connect in person with school staff relating to their child.  Such visitors will be expected to follow health and safety protocols in the same way as for teachers and other staff members at those grade levels.  Conditions will be monitored during the school year upon which to modify this visitor protocol.  Depending on current COVID-19 Conditions, visitors to the building may be limited to the front office, meeting rooms, or classrooms where students are not present.   

All vendors, volunteers and visitors are expected to follow all safety protocols:

• Limit non-essential visitors/volunteers to the extent possible. Parents/guardians are allowed in buildings to drop off and pick up students.
• Inform visitors of their obligation to self-monitor for signs and symptoms of COVID-19.
• Restrict any unnecessary entrance into buildings.