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Superintendent's Update
1/2/2022
Return To School
Hello CSD and Happy New Year:
With the convergence of the rapidly spreading omicron variant and many gatherings to celebrate the holidays, there has been a dramatic rise in COVID positive cases among parents/guardians, students, and staff as we prepare for the return to school tomorrow. While the omicron variant is preliminarily shown to be less severe (particularly for vaccinated people) the rise in cases and in hospitalizations, is creating a higher burden on our medical and educational systems.
We recognize that in-person learning has undoubtedly proven optimal, however, the increase in cases has presented a significant challenge related to school staffing and operations. Schools are still recommended by health officials to use a layered mitigation strategy that includes:
- Correct use of masks
- Physical distancing
- Handwashing and respiratory etiquette
- Cleaning and maintaining healthy facilities
- Contact tracing in combination with isolation and quarantine
The CSD administration has some indication (indeed others we do not know) of positive cases based upon the notifications we received over the break, but there may be more in the few short days after returning from the holidays. Therefore, while we will continue to review data to make the most informed decision for our district, to maintain our ability to minimize disruption to our instructional program and in-person learning, all of us are being asked to commit to the following:
- If you don't feel well, stay home,
- Report positive cases to the school nurse immediately and follow directions for isolation and/or quarantine,
- As per federal, state, and local health departments, get vaccinated,
- Maintain physical distancing whenever possible,
- Wear your mask as required by the federal mandate on school buses.
Please be reminded that there is a shortage of bus drivers across the nation. One of our neighboring school districts was forced to change its instructional model to remote/virtual before the holiday break due to not having enough drivers. The CSD transportation department has done a spectacular job in continuing to provide services despite the challenges we all are facing. As we prepare to return from the holiday break, we want to remind all parents/guardians to ensure their student(s) continues to wear their mask while riding on the school bus. Masking on school buses is not optional but required per federal mandate and guidelines.
Failure to adhere to this mandate could result in the following:
1) Student(s) losing transportation privileges
2) Consolidation in bus routes, and
3) Reduction (or elimination) of bus routes
Please help our transportation team by ensuring your son or daughter follows the mask mandate on school buses so we can protect our drivers, aides, and other transportation staff to maintain our service levels.
Thank you!
Reminder: Responding To An Outbreak
As shared in the December 22nd newsletter, our ultimate goal is to keep students in school (group/cohort) and avoid experiencing an outbreak in classrooms or schools. However, using a targeted mitigation strategy, if a school (group/cohort) is experiencing an outbreak or a rise in cases, a classroom or school may be shifted to a remote/virtual instructional model based upon the following:
5% of students/staff confirmed cases in a 14-day window:
- Small school (<500 staff & students): 25 cases threshold
- Medium school (500-900 staff & students): 25-45 case threshold
- Large school (900+ staff & students): 45+ case threshold
OR
- Three simultaneous classrooms cases and/or core group/cohort outbreaks or when:
- Contact tracing cannot adequately identify close contacts or be completed in a timely manner
We wish everyone a safe and healthy return to school tomorrow. We thank you in advance for your support in implementing mitigation strategies to avoid a disruption of our in-person learning.
Bucks County Health Department Vaccination Message
COVID Dashboard Update
Health and Safety Plan Update
Dana T. Bedden, Ed.D., CAA
Website: https://www.centennialsd.org/
Location: 48 Swan Way, Warminster, PA, USA
Phone: 215-441-6000
Twitter: @Dr_Bedden