Dear CBE Families
We are committed to keeping you informed about changes we are making as we work together to keep our schools and workplaces healthy during this pandemic. We are seeing cases of COVID-19 increase in our community, as well as in our schools. The safety and well-being of our students and staff continues to be our number one priority.
Revised Positive Case Notification
Effective today, we are changing how we notify families about positive cases. If we are informed by a family or staff member that an individual has tested positive in your child’s class, you will receive an email from the school requiring your child to isolate until we receive further information from AHS. AHS will still investigate all positive cases in schools, and your child cannot return to school until AHS says it is safe to do so.
Should we find the positive individual did not attend school while contagious, we will contact you again via email and inform you that your child can return to school. Your other children are not required to isolate unless they are displaying symptoms consistent with COVID-19.
We know that this may result in longer quarantine periods, but we expect this change will shorten the time between when we hear of a positive case and when affected families receive isolation instructions. It is our hope that this change will also help to limit the spread of COVID-19 in our community and further protect our students and staff.
Isolation Requirements
We appreciate the difficulties and challenges for families having to make last-minute changes to schedules due to an unexpected illness or potential exposure to COVID-19, however we must obey all provincial quarantine and isolation requirements to minimize the spread of the virus. Anyone who has been directed to isolate by AHS must not return to school or their workplace during their isolation period. It is also important that if you’ve had a COVID-19 test, you must not return to school until you get your results, even if you are feeling better.
You can find more information on isolation and quarantine requirements at https://www.alberta.ca/isolation.aspx
Reminder | Call your Child’s School if your Child will be Staying Home
School offices must be informed of all absences. If your child will be away from for any reason, please ensure you call you school’s absence line to let the school know. This includes students in Hub online learning. This allows the CBE to track attendance of all of our students whether they are learning in class or at home.
If your child has been directed to isolate because of an in-school exposure, you do not need to call the absence line. Your school will mark your child as being in isolation until your confirmed return to school date.
If your child is in isolation because of a community exposure, please call the school and provide your expected return to school date.
Find your school’s contact information here.
Alberta COVID-19 Border Testing Pilot Project
To reduce the risk of transmission of COVID-19 to staff and students, the CBE will not be participating in Alberta’s Border Testing Pilot Project for rapid testing that launched on Nov. 2. This means that students and families who travel out of Canada may not return to school for 14 days after arriving back in Canada. More information is available on the government’s website.
Important Reminders
We remind everyone entering a CBE school must monitor for any signs or symptoms of COVID-19. The Alberta Health daily checklist can be found here. Please complete the checklist each day prior to attending school.
If your child has any of the symptoms of illness listed on the Alberta Health daily checklist, please fill out the online Alberta Health Services COVID-19 self-assessment or call Health Link at 811 and keep your child at home.
Thank you for your understanding and support as we work to keep our students and staff safe and healthy. If you have any questions, please talk to your school principal.
Sincerely,
Christopher Usih
Chief Superintendent of Schools
