Stratford Academy Parents,
We are anxiously awaiting your children's arrival back to campus in the coming days! As we said in earlier communications during the COVID-19 pandemic, we would continually update our reopening plans as new information became available throughout the summer.
There is an abundance of emerging evidence on the importance of face masks and the role they play in mitigating the spread of the COVID-19 virus, particularly following new guidance from the American Academy of Pediatrics recommending masks be worn by children ages 2 and up when social distancing cannot be accomplished. As such, we wanted to remind everyone that we are strongly recommending students in the Beginners, Pre-K, Kindergarten, 1st and 2nd grade classrooms wear face masks. While individual face shields have been purchased and will be provided to your children to utilize while they are at school, a cloth face covering is still the best mitigation option in fighting the spread of the COVID-19 virus in our community.
Current requirements from local, state, and federal health officials say that anyone identified as being within "close contact" - unmasked, within 6-feet, for more than 15 minutes - with a confirmed COVID-19 case in the classroom must be quarantined for 14 days per the Department of Public Health. However, if a student is in a classroom with a mask on and is kept 6-feet away from his or her peers, that student wouldn't necessarily have to be sent home if the criteria for close contact had not been met. We have stopped short of requiring masks for students in the grades listed above because we understand that while one child may be able to wear their mask throughout the day, others struggle to keep it in place, constantly adjusting it, which, essentially, defeats the purpose of the mask itself. Therefore, we are leaving the decision up to the family as to whether or not their child needs to wear a mask but, again, we are strongly recommending them to be worn.
Each decision to quarantine will be made by the Stratford administrative team, recently hired Licensed Nurse Practitioner Anita Jones, the Stratford medical professionals on our Re-Entry Task Force, and in close consultation with the Georgia Department of Public Health.
While the risk of COVID-19 in young children still remains low, we must do everything we can to prevent the spread of the virus within our school and to protect the outstanding faculty members we have at Stratford, many of whom are in the high-risk category. We feel the plans we have in place will allow us to deal with cases of the virus while keeping our students and employees happy, healthy, and safe while preventing as many disruptions to the school day as possible.
We look forward to welcoming everyone back soon!
Until we meet again, stay healthy and wash your hands!
Mr. Logan Bowlds
Mrs. Anita Jones © 2019 Stratford Academy, 6010 Peake Rd, Macon, Georgia, 31220, 478.477.8073
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