The Anchorage School District infectious disease prevention and mitigation protocols are in place to protect the health and safety of our schools and to minimize disruption to teaching and learning. This mitigation plan can be summarized in three levels:

Level 1: Prevention
Level 2: Modified Operations
Level 3: Campus Closure

District buildings will always be in level 1 with a continual focus on preventing the spread of illness and layering of efforts. For example, when a location moves into level 2: mitigation, they add mitigation measures to the level 1 prevention measures already taking place.

District Communities

For the purpose of this document and the plans outlined within, the district will not be treated as a whole. Instead, each level of district protocols will be addressed at the community level. Community refers to the school building, the staff, students, programs, and volunteers that function within the building. Any decisions or considerations to move to modified operations or a school closure will be assessed at the community level unless otherwise directed by governing bodies.

Level I - Prevention

Vaccination

According to the CDC, vaccinations are currently the leading public health prevention strategy to illness prevention, especially for COVID 19. ASD encourages families to ask their primary care physician about the appropriateness of vaccinations for themselves and their family. Families and staff can find vaccinations at a vaccination clinic, or if needing assistance can ask for a list of resources from their school nurse.

Face Coverings

Masks are not universally required to be worn by students, staff, or visitors. Masks may be required in specific circumstances for specific durations as part of the heightened protection protocol detailed in level two. There are masks available in schools and district buildings for any students, staff, or visitors who may need one.

Visitors to School Buildings and Chaperones

Parents and families are welcome to enter schools and volunteer in classrooms. Please follow school district mitigation protocols and stay out of school buildings if you are not feeling well or are in isolation.

Healthy Hygiene

ASD encourages all students and staff to frequently wash their hands with soap and warm water for at least 20 seconds throughout the day. Hand sanitizer will be available for use when soap and water are not available, i.e. the playground, building entrance.

Coughs and sneezes should be covered by an arm or tissue/napkin.

Daily Cleaning and Sanitizing

ASD teachers have access to spray disinfectant and paper towels and are encouraged to disinfect regularly throughout the day. High touch surfaces are disinfected during the school day. ASD custodians will disinfect during normal cleaning. Additional disinfection activities include:

Enhanced disinfection response capability through building plant operators
Hand sanitizer is provided in all schools, buses and administrative buildings

School Based Testing

Testing for any illnesses will not be required for returning to school and will be the responsibility of the family alongside their Primary Care Provider.

Level 2 - Modified Operations

Decision to Move to Modified Operations

When there is a known outbreak of illness affecting a class, team, group or school community, and in order to maintain in-person learning, modified operations may be implemented by district administration. Modified operations may include additional mitigation measures, including a heightened protection protocol for a single class, a team, a group, a set of classrooms or a school community, and may last for several days or weeks until the increased risk has been mitigated.

Families will be notified and may choose to have their students follow modified operations or may decide to keep them home during this time period. This operational level includes required masking when necessary.

Modified Operations could involve all or some of the following mitigation and screening measures:

Building access during the school day may be limited. All visitors would be expected to adhere to the school's current protocols.
Limit large group gatherings
Increase high touch surface cleaning
Minimize student movement as much as possible in the building
Sharing of classroom supplies should be limited
Masking required
Following a symptom screening and response plan
Quarantine/Isolation of a group of students (example a sports team)
Closure of a classroom

School Based Testing

If under modified operations on-site, school based testing is provided the following protocols will be implemented:

Funding for school based testing will be explored, but dependent on a number of factors. Generally, funds for testing come from federal, state or municipal sources. The amount and requirements for funding will come from the US Department of Health, the State of Alaska and the Anchorage Health Department. The extent to which we can provide testing services is funding and situationally dependent. Barring funds from the federal, state or municipal sources, ASD will determine if the district will elect to provide testing services to students without reimbursement and using funds from the General Fund account.
Testing type will be determined by need. If lab based molecular testing is necessary, ASD will facilitate a competitive procurement process to identify and secure a laboratory partner. If school based antigen testing is necessary, supplies will be obtained through available vendors as coordinated with the State of Alaska school nursing consultant.
Resources for testing including PPE and testing kits will be accessed from various sources. PPE will be secured from existing ASD stockpiles located throughout the district. Testing supplies will be ordered through coordination with established laboratory vendors and the State of Alaska school nursing consultant.
School nurses and assigned staff will facilitate on site testing wearing appropriate PPE. Samples will be collected using nasal swab or saliva samples. If testing requires alternative collection methods, all staff will be appropriately trained and credentialed to facilitate. Following sample collection, staff will clearly label the same with student identifiers. Following, nurses will follow predetermined protocols for processing the sample as established as part of the agreement with the laboratory vendor. During COVID 19 testing, this included scanning unique QR codes and inputting student data relevant for sample processing. Following, sample collection is transported to the laboratory for processing and results are available for viewing through an online portal or other laboratory established process.

Sample transport is a significant portion of costs associated with school based testing and will require collaborative planning between laboratory, ASD warehouse and ASD Healthcare Services. During COVID 19, specimens were transported to hub schools by school nurses or other assigned staff and warehouse or beechtree would facilitate pickup from hub schools and transport to the laboratory.

Level 3 - Campus Closure

Campus Closure Protocols

On rare occasions, immediate closure and subsequent reopening of ASD campuses during periods of significant outbreak may be necessary throughout the school year to maintain healthy school environments for district students and staff. School closures will allow for the completion of necessary isolations, deep cleaning and implementation of preventative quarantine procedures. During school closures, all student activities for the affected school may be canceled until the campus is re-opened for in-person learning. Campus closure is defined as the entire school being closed. If a grade level or subset of the campus is asked to stay home, that is considered “modified operations.”

Campus closure protocols may be initiated by school administration.

Infectious Disease Response Team

The Infectious Disease Response Team (“IDRT”) will be made up of the following individuals:

Principal of the Campus
Sr. Director of Risk Management & Safety
Director of Healthcare Services
Sr. Director and/or Director of Human Resources
Chief Academic Officer
Chief Operations Officer
Superintendent
District Medical Advisory Members
Senior Director of Security & Emergency Management
Chief Information Officer or Designee (as needed)

Initiating Campus Closure

Step 1: The Superintendent, Deputy Superintendent, the COO, Sr. Director of Risk Management & Safety, Sr. Director of Secondary, Sr. Director of Elementary/Secondary, Director of Healthcare Services will meet and if necessary initiate the IDRT team.

Step 2: The IDRT will gather findings of an investigation and set a meeting of the Campus Closure Team (Investigation information includes, but is not limited to, the following: number of positive cases, number of symptomatic individuals, community case rates, local/state hospital capacity, current staff and student absentee rates).

Step 3: The IDRT will meet to evaluate the findings of the investigation and determine the need for campus closure or modified operations of a subset of the campus.

Step 4: Administration will assist in providing additional support for closure and/or modified operations implementation.

Factors for Campus Closure

The IDRT will determine whether a campus closure is necessary. The district will notify families as soon as possible. The IDRT will consider the following factors when determining whether a campus closure is necessary:

Status of confirmed illnesses
Public Health and medical team guidance
Whether the cases are concentrated to a particular group of students (e.g. grade level, sports team, etc.) and the temporary quarantine of the group of students would provide sufficient risk mitigation
The current level of student and staff absenteeism on campus
The community case rates and current hospital capacity
The need for temporary closure or application of virtually based instructional learning and closure

Step-by-Step Instructions for Campus Closure

If, after reviewing all these factors, the IDRT determines a campus closure is necessary, the campus will be closed and the principal will follow the step-by-step instructions below.

Coordinate with Athletics and Fine Arts personnel to determine impact of campus closure on extracurricular activities, competitions, and practices.
Notify all parents of the campus closure, including impacted extracurricular activities via multiple methods of communication (e.g., email, text, phone call).
Notify all campus staff of the closure, including impacted extracurricular activities.
Notify departments with itinerant campus personnel (e.g., Special Education) of campus closure.
Notify District services of campus closure (e.g., Nutrition Services, Transportation, Custodial, etc.).
Post signage indicating closure on campus entries.
Initiate Protocols for Continuity of Education and Nutrition Services when applicable.

Prolonged Campus Closures - Continuity of Education

If a temporary closure is not sufficient, coordination of virtual learning may be necessary. If this is the case the following protocols will be implemented:

Campus Closures - Student Nutrition

If a campus closure is required, the Infectious Disease Response Team will meet with the Sr. Director of Student Nutrition to assess and determine, based on availability of existing resources (labor and inventory), if meal distribution is possible on a case by case basis.

If there are community wide closure requirements, the following will be coordinated in accordance with existing labor and inventory availability:

Prepare frozen and/or shelf stable meals for distribution.
Identify and secure central locations to serve as distribution sites in accordance with all federal guidelines/requirements.
Staff distribution sites for 3 to 4 hour increments.
If necessary, the district will communicate and offer online pre-registration for families to determine eligibility for free or reduced lunches.

If meal distribution is necessary, the following protocols will be implemented:

Funding for meals and distribution will be explored, but dependent on a number of factors. Generally, funds for student nutrition come from federal sources. The amount and requirements for funding will come from the US Department of Agriculture and the State of Alaska. The extent to which we can provide food and receive reimbursement from the USDA is situationally dependent. Barring funds from the federal government, ASD will determine if the district will elect to provide meals to students without reimbursement from the federal government and using funds from the General Fund account.
The below resources will need to be obtained in preparation for food distribution, and should be considered in determining whether or not distribution will be feasible.

Food. Food resources originate from a couple of sources including directly from the federal government (i.e. USDA commodities) and Student Nutrition operating funds (which also originate from the US Government). In order to utilize these resources, Student Nutrition will have to comply with federal guidelines for its use. In the event of ASD using General Funds to provide meals, Student Nutrition can procure and utilize food from regular vendors. Vendors in Anchorage to contact include: US Foods, Charlies Produce, Ditomaso’s Fruit and Vegetables, Peterkin Milk, COSTCO, and other smaller vendors.
Staff. Staff availability is dependent on the infection rate of affected staff. Staff shortages/availability will affect the ability to provide food support. Staff involved in preparing or issuing food must be properly trained and have Municipality of Anchorage food handler’s credentials. Student Nutrition does have the ability to conduct training and issue food handler’s cards to non-food service personnel. These credentials are sufficient for ASD use but not general food handling.
PPE and Sanitation Equipment. Student Nutrition has the capacity to sustain food service with the necessary PPE to conduct normal operations such as gloves for food handling, face masks, disinfecting supplies for sanitizing equipment, and packaging. Any additional requirements may warrant supplementation from sources outside Student Nutrition. For example, if a specific mask is required, then sourcing may originate from outside normal food procurement vendors.

Distribution can occur at almost any school site given compliance with federal regulations (if using federal funds), availability of staff, and conditions at schools. Distribution may be a point of service, meaning students/families come to a location to receive packaged food. On a limited basis, food distribution may occur along specific routes using ASD Transportation resources to affect delivery. Note that due to a number of limiting factors, delivery by bus would be along select routes at specific drop points and times. Door to door delivery is not feasible due to a number of limiting factors.

Protocols for Ending a Campus Closure

When evaluating a campus for reopening, the IDRT will consider the following factors:

Whether all confirmed cases will be complete and contacts notified prior to students and staff arriving on campus
Whether the student or staff quarantine rate remains above acceptable levels

When the IDRT determines the campus should reopen, the campus Principal (with support from operations) will take the following actions to prepare for reopening the facility:

Verify that all campus mechanical, HVAC, fire, and life safety systems are fully operational
Notify all parents of the campus reopening, including impacted extracurricular activities and expectations for return to school, via multiple methods of communication (e.g., email, text, phone call, etc.)
Notify all campus staff of the reopening, including impacted extracurricular activities and expectations for return to work
Notify departments with itinerant campus personnel (e.g., Special Education) of campus reopening
Notify District services of campus reopening (e.g., Nutrition Services, Transportation, Custodial, etc.)