![]() ![]() My goal for us is to get to a spot where we can once again make masks an individual choice for families and be able to safely have what we all would consider a “normal” school day without the fear of students becoming ill and without the threat of us having to send students home from school for extended periods of time because they were considered close contacts. It is my hope that the number of COVID cases will begin to decrease over the coming months as the number of those eligible to get a vaccination increases. This requirement will begin tomorrow, Thursday, August 19, 2021.Īt this time, this is the most responsible decision to make to ensure that our students can stay in school learning with face to face instruction while also being able to participate in all the extracurriculars after the school day that are so important to a child’s educational experience. In order for us to ensure that these two priorities are met, I’m going to be requiring all staff, students, and visitors from preschool through 12th grade to wear a mask while they are indoors at school. Two of my top priorities are keeping our staff and students healthy while they are here at school and also keeping our kids in school with face to face instruction for the entire school year. The local data, along with the fact that our students leading up to the start of school had been minimally impacted by COVID over the past month, gave me some glimmer of hope that we would be able to continue through the entirety of the school year without a mask mandate.unfortunately, this will not be the case. As I’ve analyzed the data in the 45236 zip code as well as in Hamilton County and within our own staff and student body, I made the decision to start the school year “strongly recommending” masking to give our students an opportunity to have as least restrictive of an education as possible. I’ve been tracking the data daily, communicating with the local health department as well as other local health professionals. Unfortunately, our students are returning to school during what Governor Dewine called yesterday, “A Perfect Storm.” As all students and staff across the state return to school, the delta variant of COVID-19 is spreading across the country at an incredibly swift pace. It has been awesome seeing all of our students back at school and excited to learn. We have had a great first two days of school here in Deer Park.
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