Happy Sunday, Pride!
To our K - 10th grade students (and families), I hope you all enjoyed your first week back. For our 11th and 12th grade students, good luck this week as your classes begin on Wednesday.
Before I go into the purpose of this week's letter, I wanted to remind all of our K - 10th-grade families of a few things as it pertains to arrival and dismissal. I do want to start off by saying "thank you" all for your patience and understanding during these first few days of school. We've hit a few snags, which caused a delay/backup with dismissal, but you all have handled this in stride. For this, I thank you!
Arrival (all families):
If you arrive between 7:30 am and 8:00 am, please pull as far forward as you can when you are in our dropoff zone. Our dropoff zone is the "service road" (to the left of the dumpster) all the way down to our far crosswalk. Essentially, it's the length of the front of the school. Please unload your child between these points when the car in front of you stops. Elementary families, please do not stop early to let your child off under the awning. Middle and high families, please do not avoid dropping off in this area, just so you can let your child off by the far crosswalk.
It's our goal to bring in 12 cars, and send out 12 cars (all at one time) and not have the stop and go that we've had over the past few mornings. We're hoping that now the "first days" are behind us (of families helping with supplies and such), things will get a bit quicker this week.
Dismissal:
General Reminders (all families)
- Please use your car tags - by now, you should have received two from us. If you need more, please order more by clicking here.
- Please avoid being on your cell phone, especially when you're approaching our dropoff zone.
- Please do not get frustrated with the staff if we ask you to drive to the "parking lot" because your child hasn't made it outside yet. It's our goal that this doesn't have to happen, but sometimes the child didn't hear/see his/her name, which causes a delay in the child coming out.
- Per SC Department of Transportation, students really need to exit/load from the passenger side of the car.
- If you are carpooling and picking up students with a blue tag and a black tag, please arrive during the "black tack" timeslot.
- In 99% of the cases, we cannot have a car pull to the left to pass a stopped unloading vehicle. Please be patient with the car in front of you.
Black Tags
- Please do not arrive to our campus until 2:50 or later.
- Black tags are asked to stay in the "left lane" until we start merging the lines at 3:00 pm.
- If you have a relative (i.e. grandparent) picking up on your behalf, please make sure they understand the black tag pick-up time.
Now onto a new topic, COVID.
Like many of you, back in June and early July, I was excited about the thought of a "normal year." Then "the Delta" changed that for all of us. A few questions have come up over the past 24 hours that I'd like to address for everyone. If you have any questions about any of these, please don't hesitate to reach out to me or Nurse Donna.
What is the latest COVID data for Riverwalk Academy?
Like last year, we make all of our COVID data publicly available. We just released our COVID dashboard, which will be linked to our website shortly. Until then, the dashboard can be viewed here. It is updated by 3:00 pm each school day.
What happens when we report that a student is positive? What happens when DHEC notifies us of a positive student?
First, let me say that we have not yet had DHEC notify us first of a positive student. In 100% of the cases over the past year, we heard from the parents first. For this, I thank you all for your timely notifications.
When we're notified of a COVID-positive student, two things happen simultaneously: Nurse Donna calls the family while the administration works with the teacher to identify who is a close contact. A close contact, as defined by the CDC and DHEC, is someone who was within 6 feet of an infected person (laboratory-confirmed or a clinically compatible illness) for a cumulative total of 15 minutes or more over a 24-hour period.
Anyone who is identified as a close contact is immediately removed from class and the parent of that student is contacted for them to be picked up. After the "close contacts" have been notified via phone, we send out the "COVID notification" emails (see next question).
My friend, who has a child in a different grade received an email about someone who was positive, but I didn't. Why is that?
We send out email notifications for the following reasons (see below). At no time do we share the name of the individual who is positive.
- Positive Staff Members - An email is sent out to the whole staff letting them know that a colleague has been diagnosed with COVID. A second email is sent out to the students of that staff member's particular class(es).
- Positive Students - An email is sent out to the child's teacher(s) making them aware and asking them to follow up with any remote work that the child can work on while they are in isolation or in quarantine. Another email is sent to the parents of that particular class(es) letting them know that a classmate has tested positive.
How does Riverwalk Academy "contact trace?"
We use a variety of means to identify who is a close contact. For example, all of our teachers maintain a seating chart (including when they go to specials and electives). We talk with the teachers to identify who met the "close contact" criteria. We also talk with the COVID-positive student, in order to triangulate the close contacts.
I know Dr. Compton is good, but if I remember from last year, he said he was absent from school the day they covered pandemic management. How does he know what to do?
First, I appreciate the compliment, and second, yes, I admit, I must have been absent the day they covered infectious disease management in my school and district leadership classes. Luckily, this is something we defer to the experts on. Nurse Donna and I are not experts, and even if we were, the data and recommendations change almost weekly. Because of this, we consult with the real experts:
- SC DHEC provides us a consultation hotline where we can speak with a representative from DHEC to talk through cases and scenarios.
- We consult with the lead nurses from the surrounding districts like Rock Hill 3, York 1, and Clover.
- York County Emergency Management has a hotline for schools to consult with a member of their staff.
Why hasn't more than 1 COVID notification gone home, since Riverwalk Academy already has 3 positive cases for students and 1 positive staff case?
We sent home our first "COVID Notification" on Friday around 11:30 am. For the other 3 positive cases, those students were positive before school started for the year and they never attended classes.
Now that COVID is on the rise, why won't Riverwalk Academy require masks?
To make a long story short, in SC it's illegal to require staff or students to wear masks. Over the summer, the governor's Mask Mandate Prohibition proviso was signed into law essentially making it illegal for us to require masks.
It's illegal for my child to wear a mask?
No, it's not illegal. It's illegal for Riverwalk to require it, but that doesn't stop anyone from wearing their masks. Personally (this is Dr. Compton speaking), I would love to see more students and staff wearing masks as the CDC and DHEC has made it clear that face masks are strongly recommended for anyone, even the vaccinated, while indoors.
Can you tell me which teachers are vaccinated?
Because of HIPAA, I cannot. While staff has disclosed to me who has and hasn't been vaccinated, it's a violation for me to require them to tell me. I can share with you that that about 70% of our staff has been vaccinated.
Who do I tell if my student has tested positive, has been determined by DHEC to be a close contact, or lives in a house with someone who has tested positive?
We're asking that ALL STUDENTS, regardless if they attend our campus, attend our virtual academy, or attend our location at York Technical College (YTC), report this via this form. For our 11th and 12th grade students attending at YTC, your COVID notification will be shared with YTC's Counseling and Support Services (who is overseeing COVID management at YTC). 11th and 12th-grade students should contact Counseling and Support Services if they have any questions or concerns about COVID (803-327-8007 or CASS@yorktech.edu).
How long do COVID-positive students (and staff) and "close contacts" have to stay out of school?
In simple terms, the following are the timelines that are prescribed by DHEC:
- Positive staff or student (regardless of vaccination status): 10 calendar days
- Close Contact (non-family member): 14 days or 0 days for those who can show that the close contact is vaccinated
- Close Contact (household contact): unvaccinated: a total of 24 calendar days (14 days of quarantine after the "household contact's" 10 days of isolation are up); vaccinated: close contacts who provide evidence of vaccination are able to immediately return.
Pride, I know this was a lot of information and that "the delta" has made this another "not typical" year. Please know that we're doing everything that we possibly can to keep your child, you, and our staff safe. There are some things that are out of our control (i.e. mandating masking), but there are things we can do to help slow the spread. If you have any questions about any of the above, please reach out to me or Nurse Donna.
I hope each of you has another wonderful week and we're looking forward to seeing your child tomorrow.
In Strength and Blessings,
~Dr. Compton
