August 24, 2021

Dear Parents and Guardians,

Beginning Wednesday, August 25, our district will be requiring that face coverings be worn by all students, staff members, and guests who visit our buildings regardless of vaccination status through Friday, September 3. Please read the information in this letter carefully.

• Students will not be required to wear face coverings during recess, physical education class, during lunch, or while participating in extracurricular activities.
• When students are outside or when provided a break by teachers, face coverings may be removed.
• Face coverings worn can be in the form of a mask, gaiter, or face shield as long as they are worn in a way that prevents spread/exposure.
• If your child does not have access to a face covering that can be worn at school, a disposable mask can be provided.
• At the present time, face coverings will not be required at outdoor events (i.e. soccer matches, football games, etc.).
• Finally, like last year, preschool students will not be required to wear face coverings in our buildings.

Why are we making this decision now?

1. There is currently a Covid-19 case surge occurring in Highland County and the surrounding areas. After being in school just 3 days, we have experienced the following:

• 17 positive student cases (In the 2020-2021 school year, we had 16 student cases at one time during our peak in January 2021.)
• 82 students have been quarantined due to being a close contact of a positive student case or a positive case in their family.
• All of our buildings have been affected, but our high school has been affected by illness the most. Their absence percentage on August 23 was 16%.

2. Wearing face coverings also decreases quarantines in addition to preventing spread/exposure. Being quarantined is VERY difficult for children academically and socially. Wearing a face covering AND/OR being vaccinated (if age appropriate) will keep students from being designated as a close contact and having to quarantine. No matter your personal opinion on masks or vaccinations, it is just simply a fact.
3. The Ohio Department of Education is not offering districts the same flexibility with remote learning as last school year. As of now, if we have to close a building or the district because of Covid-19, we will have to use calamity days. If we don’t meet the number of required instructional hours, which is what happened for the high school last school year, we will be required to extend our school days into summer break instead of being able to use remote learning.  Using calamity days this early in the school year is not something we want to do.
4. Finally, there are things occurring outside the district in regards to Covid-19 that we can’t control. Requiring face coverings for a period of time is something that we CAN do to keep kids in school.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us. In addition, you can also access our Covid-19 plan using the following link: GEVSD 2021-2022 Covid-19 Plan. 

Also, we will be bringing back the Covid tracker on our website so that you can view positive case/quarantine numbers daily. We would prefer to be transparent so that people don’t hear and believe false information. The tracker is not a requirement for school districts, so we may choose to discontinue using it in the future.

Finally, our goal as a district is ALWAYS to protect students and staff. Protecting students from illness, but also protecting them from quarantine is what is best for them. We appreciate your support. TOGETHER, we can get through this challenging time while keeping students in school.

Respectfully,

Quincey Gray