Symptom Monitoring, School Exclusion and Quarantining

The following flowcharts outline guidance provided by the Chester County Health Department and are meant to help inform students, staff members, and families of the protocols to be followed in response to a positive or pending Covid-19 test or exposure to an individual with a possible or confirmed case of Covid-19. All students and staff members are required to self-screen every day before entering a district school or building by reviewing the checklists found here.

Additional information is available from the Chester County Health Department: Instructions for Symptomatic Students Sent Home Sick; Instructions for Students with Close Contact; Additional Flowcharts for Responding to Individual with Symptoms

Guidance for Students Who May Need to Quarantine Due to Covid-19

Below is a summary of acceptable options in the event a student needs to be absent from school due to COVID-19 illness or in order to quarantine (generally for 14 days).

EXCUSED ABSENCE: Illness and quarantine would both qualify as excused absences, so one option is for the student to simply stay home and not participate in any formal education during this time. The student would be marked absent and provided a doctor’s note is received upon the student’s return to school, the absence would be treated as excused. This is no different than scenarios prior to COVID-19 where a student is absent for an extended period of time due to the flu, etc.

SYNCHRONOUS PARTICIPATION THROUGH LIVE-STREAMING INTO CLASSROOM: If the parent/guardian does not want to keep their child home with no formal education during the period of illness or quarantine, there are a few options:

- With the permission of the parent/guardian, RTSD could allow the student to live-stream into their classroom and participate remotely.vThis option would require an iPad on a tripod for the teacher in the classroom. The student would use their district-issued device to live-stream into the classroom. The building administration and teacher would determine the most critical part(s) of the day for the student to livestream into the classroom, and they would communicate the schedule with the student and parent. The student would join class remotely for the portion of the day to access instruction and maintain engagement with his/her teacher and peers. Additional support for the teacher to manage the iPad and live-stream student support will be provided when possible.

ASYNCHRONOUS WORK SENT HOME: An alternative to live-streaming into the classroom would be to treat the student as though they had selected a full virtual experience. The teacher could send work home with the student, with the expectation that it is completed and submitted at the required intervals. Depending on how engaged the student is, RTSD can determine whether we can count the student as “present” for the day, or whether they need to be coded as “absent – excused,” but in any event, unlike option 1 listed above, students in this category would continue to perform work during their period of illness/quarantine, just not in a live, synchronous manner.

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