District Communications

Quarantine guidance if you are considered a close contact 

If you are NOT vaccinated OR completed Pfizer or Moderna series more than six months or completed J&J more than two months ago AND have not had a booster:

Stay home and quarantine for FIVE days. You can leave the house on day 5 IF you have NO symptoms, one negative PCR test OR two negative antigen tests.

On day five if you’ve had no symptoms,

• AND one negative PCR test
• OR two negative antigen tests performed 24 hours apart on day four

you may go back to work/school. You must wear a mask strictly through day 10. If you develop symptoms at any time you must get a PCR test (NOT ANTIGEN).

If you are fully vaccinated and have NO symptoms – go about life as usual. If you have any COVID symptoms, even mild, you must go into quarantine and get a PCR test. You may return to school/work once you get a negative PCR test result. Continue to monitor yourself for 10 days. 

IF you test positive for COVID:
Vaccinated, boosted, or unvaccinated people:

From the day you test positive stay home and isolate for five days. You can leave your home on day five:

• IF you’ve had two negative antigen tests spaced 24 hours apart on days four and five 
• IF you never had symptoms or your symptoms have improved and you feel better 
• AND you have had no fever for more than 24 hours without meds to reduce fever 
• AND you wear a mask for five days around others. 

Read more on the Vermont Department of Health website. 

Dear WSD Community,

For the 2021-22 school year, we are offering an extra layer of protection to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in our schools — our COVID-19 testing program. This program is free and voluntary for students and staff, and participation in the program is highly encouraged, regardless of vaccination status. 

While COVID-19 vaccines are very good at protecting people from getting seriously ill,  data shows vaccinated people infected with some variants of the virus could spread it to others. It is important for us to create a safe and inclusive environment for both vaccinated and unvaccinated students.

How the test works:
The tests will be self-administered through a quick, non-invasive nasal swab. These are easy for students 5 years and older to perform themselves under supervision.

When will I get the testing results?
Results will be available to students and guardians via a private login to a personal testing portal typically within 48 hours. If you or your child receive a positive test result, you will receive a call from the Vermont Department of Health. The WSD COVID-19 Coordinators will follow normal procedures to identify school-related close contacts and provide quarantine guidance.

When will the surveillance testing begin?
If all goes as planned, on Monday, October 6. Testing should take place every Monday. 

What else do I need to know?
If you want to unenroll in the program email COVID-19 Testing Program Coordinator, Emily Hecker (ehecker@wsdvt.org). 

We will work to make sure the testing does not disrupt regular teaching schedules  Thanks again for your support. We will share more details as they are finalized.

Sincerely,
Emily Hecker, Communication Director
Liz Parris, COVID-19 Coordinator
Katharine Monje, COVID-19 Coordinator

May 5, 2021 – Vermont Forward Plan Clarifications to School Sports Guidance
With changes May 1 in the State’s COVID-19 guidance that included advancing to Step 2 of the Vermont Forward Plan, the transition of recreational sports programs to Universal Guidance, and an updated masking policy that requires masks outdoors when you are in a crowd or with other households where you can’t maintain a 6-foot distance, there have been a number of questions about how these apply to both recreational and school-based sports programs. Please review the following clarifications.

For athletes participating in school-based sports:

• The most recent version of A Strong and Healthy Year Guidance, published by the Agency of Education states the following: All staff and students are required to wear facial coverings while in the building. They must also wear them when outside of the building if adequate physical distancing of at least six (6) feet cannot be maintained.
  • Consistent with the Strong and Healthy Year guidance, athletes participating in low contact and no contact school-based spring sports (i.e., track and field, baseball and softball) are no longer required to wear masks so long as six feet of physical distance can be maintained. Baseball and softball players must wear masks while sitting in the dugout
  • Athletes participating in sports involving moderate contact or close proximity must continue to wear masks at all times during practice and game play.
    • All athletes must wear masks when being bused to a game or meet, in any indoor setting (i.e., locker room or training room), or participating in team-based meeting with six feet of physical distance cannot be consistently maintained.

For spectators at outdoor school-based or recreational sports events:

• Consistent with the Vermont Forward Plan, 300 unvaccinated people, plus any number of vaccinated individuals, can attend outdoor sports events as spectators.
  • Spectators are not required to wear masks at outdoor sports events so long as six feet of physical distance can be maintained between households.

For spectators at indoor school-based or recreational sports events

• Consistent with the Vermont Forward Plan, one unvaccinated person per 100 square feet up to 150 unvaccinated people (whichever is less), plus any number of vaccinated people, can attend indoor sports events as spectators.
  • Spectators must wear a mask at all times while attending an indoor sports event.

If an event has no way of determining if an individual is vaccinated, assume all are unvaccinated for the capacity limit.

Dear WSD Families,

February 12, 2021 – I am writing to you to let you know that a member of our learning community has a confirmed positive case of COVID-19. At this time, we have no reason to believe there is any evidence of transmission occurring in the building. 

Our COVID-19 Coordinators are working closely with the Vermont Department of Health (VDH) to keep everyone in our learning community as safe as possible. 

Yesterday, the WSD COVID-19 Co-Coordinators called all individuals considered close contacts of the positive case. If you have not been contacted, that means you and/or your child are not considered a close contact of the positive case.

27 people are currently in quarantine because they are considered close contacts of the positive individual. 11 people are in quarantine because they are symptomatic, awaiting test results, or finishing their 14-day quarantine. 

 The WSD COVID-19 Response Team, has decided to cancel the high school’s home basketball games scheduled for this afternoon out of an abundance of caution. 

Please continue to protect yourself and others from the spread of COVID, so that we can keep our schools open and our community healthy. 

COVID-19 Testing in Winooski

Daily on-going COVID-19 testing is available in Winooski at the O’Brien Community Center (32 Malletts Bay Ave) for the entire month of February, during the following hours:

• Mondays / 2 – 8 PM 
• Tuesdays / 9 – 3 PM
• Wednesdays / 2 – 8 PM 
• Thursdays / 9 – 3 PM 
• Fridays / 2 – 8 PM 
• Saturdays / 9 – 3 PM 
• Sunday / 9 – 3 PM

Thank you for everything you do to keep our community safe and healthy. If you have any questions or concerns, please call the WSD COVID-19 hotline, 802-556-2243. 

Thank you,

Sean McMannon, Superintendent