By BERNADETTE SUKLEY

Special to The Press

On Feb. 2, Northwestern Lehigh School District Superintendent Jennifer Holman provided this letter to the school community via a message on the district’s Web page.

Holman said the purpose of the communication is to provide families with an update of the district’s Health and Safety Plan.

The following revisions were approved at the January board of directors meetings:

-Face Covering Tiered Mitigation Measures Matrix was adopted effective Feb. 3.

-Asymptomatic close contact quarantine recommendations.

As a result, effective Feb. 3, all school buildings will be Tier 1 (optional) for face coverings.

This change also makes face coverings optional for extracurricular, athletics and spectators.

Regardless of the tier decided by the district, face coverings continue to be required on school district transportation, nurse’s suite, and trainer’s office.

Additionally, students who attend Lehigh Career and Technical Institute will still be required to wear face coverings while at LCTI.

Furthermore, we will continue to closely monitor all data levels daily and make adjustments as needed.

For example, we will move an individual building back into targeted (Tier 2) or universal masking (Tier 3) if the data necessitates and move to a lower tier when the data permits.

While face coverings will not be required in all areas, anyone may choose to wear a face covering if they wish to do so.

Regarding isolation and quarantine requirements, the district will follow the Pennsylvania Department of Health by continuing to contact trace and implement:

·A five-day isolation period for positive cases followed by five days of mask-wearing.

·A quarantine period for household close contacts followed by five days of mask-wearing.

Additionally, the district will now recommend, not require, that asymptomatic, non-household close contacts quarantine.

These practices will reduce the length of time out of school; however, it is important to note that the masking requirement for these individuals will be applied regardless of what tier the close contact’s building is in.

Several factors have led to these decisions.

First and foremost, we continue to implement multiple layers of mitigation strategies: symptom screening, enhanced cleaning and sanitizing, hand hygiene, and social distancing to the maximum extent feasible.

Additionally, each occupied space has been equipped with a bipolar ionizer, which helps remove bacteria and viruses.

The goal is to maximize in-person instruction and minimize disruptions to student learning while maintaining a safe learning environment for students and staff.

Staff, students and families can help us achieve the goal of in-person learning with as little disruption as possible by staying home when they are sick or experiencing symptoms.

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Northwestern Lehigh students will recognize Presidents Day on Feb. 21 with a day off from classes.