North Lancaster News

Conestoga Valley School District issued the following announcement.

In order to be transparent, and still maintain confidentiality, today I sent out two letters to the CV Community informing everyone of two positive COVID tests.  What those letters do is give a very brief overview of the process involving positive cases and contact tracing. What they didn’t do was address the rest of us.  Let me try to give you some information, and hopefully alleviate some of your concerns.

As we have discussed in the past, this virus has impacted every aspect of society, and schools are not immune to it.  We are doing everything possible to keep our students, faculty and staff safe, and we are also aware that it would be a matter of “when” and not “if” someone in the District would test positive.  That being said, let me tell you our protocol we follow when we are notified of a positive test.

• A parent/student notifies someone at the school, and that person notifies the building principal and/or school nurse.
• That information is shared with me and the Nurse Coordinator, who in turn notifies the PA Department of Health.
• After making sure the COVID-positive person is isolated at home (for at least ten days), the building administrators and nurses immediately begin to conduct contact tracing.
  • Contact tracing is just finding out who was within 6 feet of the COVID-positive person for a period of more than 15 minutes (direct contacts).
• The nurse or principal will then notify the direct contacts and have them quarantine for a period of 14 days (from the last time that they were in direct contact with the affected person).

So, this is where we, as parents, start asking, “But what about my child?  She was in that classroom.”  The simple answer is the old adage, “No news is good news!”  If you were not notified that your child was a direct contact, that means that he/she was not exposed to the affected person; and since he/she was not a direct contact, he/she does not need to quarantine!  The follow up question is often, “But my child was in direct contact with the direct contact; doesn’t she have to quarantine?”  The simple answer is no; only those people in direct contact with a COVID-positive person need to quarantine.  If you are twice removed, you’re good to go!

While we are having our students who are COVID-positive isolate, and direct contacts quarantine, they will be instructed outside of the school using the real-time virtual model.  Meanwhile, back in the schools, our custodial staff have been cleaning and disinfecting the affected rooms, making them ready for in-class instruction.

I hope this helps answer why not everyone has to quarantine or be notified; and I hope it gives you a little peace of mind in that we are doing what we can, and we’re following proper protocol, to keep our in-class instruction as safe (and meaningful) possible!

Stay healthy!

Dr. Dave Zuilkoski, Superintendent

Original source can be found here.