The following close contacts are exempt from testing and quarantine response protocols:

• Asymptomatic, fully vaccinated close contacts: Individuals who are asymptomatic and
  fully vaccinated are exempt from testing and quarantine response protocols.
• Classroom close contacts: An individual who is exposed to a COVID-19 positive individual in the classroom while both individuals were masked, so long as the individuals were spaced at least 3 feet apart, is exempt from testing and quarantine response protocols.
• Bus close contacts: Individuals on buses must be masked according to federal requirements. As such, individuals who are masked on buses when windows are open are exempt from testing and quarantine response protocols.

Close contacts who have had COVID-19 within the past 90 days: An individual who has been previously diagnosed with COVID-19 and then becomes a close contact of someone with COVID-19 is exempt from testing and quarantine response protocols if:

• The exposure occurred within 90 days of the onset of their own illness AND
• The exposed individual is recovered and remains without COVID-19 symptoms.
  

• Duration: Quarantine is at least 10 days from the date of exposure
• Return to School: After 10 days, returning on day 11, provided that they:
  • Have not experienced symptoms up to this point
  • Conduct active monitoring for symptoms through day 14 and self-isolate if symptoms develop.

• Note: If an individual has symptoms at the time they are designated as a close contact or within the 14 days following initial exposure, they follow the protocol for symptomatic individuals (Protocol C). If an individual tests positive at any time, they follow the protocol for individuals who test positive for COVID-19 (Protocol A).

If a school has concerns over a spike in cases within a classroom, grade, or a school, districts and schools must notify their local board of health and must call the DESE Rapid Response Help Center at 781-338-3500.

DESE will then support the district/school with the following steps:

• Follow DESE/DPH testing and quarantine protocols, including implementation of Test and Stay for close contacts
• Narrow the focus to relevant classrooms and/or grades where the case increases have been observed
• Work with DESE, local board of health, and DPH epidemiologists to review and assess the most recent testing results, discuss strategies to control the spread, and determine additional measures to be taken. This could include the following:
  • Review close contacts and potentially expand participants in Test and Stay
  • Administer enhanced testing
  • Quarantine an individual classroom and/or grade
    • Please note: If quarantine of a classroom or grade is necessary, based on the advice of DPH, quarantine length for asymptomatic individuals is 7 days with a negative test result. Individuals must receive a BinaxNOW or PCR test no earlier than Day 5 to return to school on Day 8.
• If cases begin to increase in other classrooms or grades, additional testing may again be implemented. DESE, the local board of health, and DPH epidemiologist will continue to advise if quarantining other areas of the school is advisable.
  • Districts must work with DESE prior to making any decisions about quarantining and closure of an entire classroom, grade, or school.

Once children ages 5-11 have been fully vaccinated (i.e., 2 weeks following their second vaccine dose), if they are subsequently identified as a close contact and are asymptomatic, they will be exempt from testing and quarantine protocols (including Test and Stay). Vaccinated children who are not close contacts also have a modified list of symptoms to be monitored for, and should follow testing and quarantine response protocols if they are experiencing any of the following: fever (100.0° Fahrenheit or higher), chills, or shaking chills; difficulty breathing or shortness of breath; new loss of taste or smell; or muscle aches or body aches. These individuals may also seek clinical guidance to assess the need for PCR testing if they have other possible symptoms of COVID-19. For more information see page 3 of the DESE/DPH testing and quarantine protocols.

• If staff or students are a close contact of someone who tested positive for COVID-19, they should be tested and should follow the protocols outlined in Protocol B, unless they are exempted, as outlined above.
• If staff or students have COVID-19 symptoms, they should be tested and follow the protocols outlined in Protocol C.

Every school should have a list of available test sites. A list of test sites is available here, and Massachusetts also has an interactive testing map. Staff and students who have symptoms should also contact their primary care provider for further instructions.

• The BinaxNOW test is a rapid antigen test. Rapid antigen tests perform best when the person is tested in the early stages of infection with COVID-19, when the viral load is generally highest.
• When a student or staff member presents to the school health office with any symptom from the list in Section 1, they should receive a BinaxNOW test if available.
  o If the result is positive, they should be sent home and follow Protocol A.
  o If the result is negative, they should be sent home. The student’s parent/guardian, or
  the staff member, should be informed that the negative test is presumptive and they
  should follow Protocol C.

Note: BinaxNOW tests are less sensitive and less specific than PCR tests. PCR confirmation
is recommended for asymptomatic persons with a positive BinaxNOW test, and for symptomatic persons with a negative test, unless those symptoms are unlikely to be due to COVID-19. If the results are discordant, for the purposes of these protocols the PCR result would be taken as the true result, assuming the two tests are done within 2 days of each other.

• If an individual has mild symptoms, the individual may be considered for testing using BinaxNOW, if available.
• If the result is positive, they should be sent home and follow Protocol A.
• If the result is negative, they should remain in school.
• If the minimal symptom(s) persist, the individual may be re-tested within the subsequent 3 days. If symptoms worsen, the individual should seek medical care and be evaluated for the need for PCR testing.

• When a person has a positive COVID-19 test, the local board of health or the Massachusetts Community Tracing Collaborative will reach out to provide support so the individual can remain safely in medical isolation. They will also ask for help to identify close contacts.
• These organizations will then reach out to the individual’s close contacts to provide information to help stop the spread of the virus, including how to safely quarantine.
• To further assist with contact tracing, the student/family and staff are asked to reach out to their personal contacts and notify the school. The school should also support contact tracing efforts within the school to the extent feasible.
  

• If someone is symptomatic at school or on the bus, they should be masked immediately and evaluated by the school health professional for symptoms.
• If an individual has COVID-19 symptoms as outlined in Section 1, they should be masked, and when feasible, be in a separate room with the door closed until they can be picked up. For full guidance for school health offices, please see Additional Information for School Health Offices.

• Determine if the individual was at school in the two days prior to symptom onset (or testing positive if asymptomatic) and until isolation.
  o If so, clean and disinfect the spaces an individual spent time in, if they have not already been cleaned.
• Note that for districts participating in the statewide testing program designated school staff and parents/caregivers will receive results of each individual COVID test a student takes through the testing software platform.
• Communicate with families and staff of close contacts, including informing them that:
  • There was a positive test (do not name the specific individual)
  • Explain that the student/staff is a “close contact” and therefore should follow the protocols for close contacts outlined in Protocol B.
  • Remind individuals of the list of COVID-19 symptoms to monitor for (see Section 1). o Ask them to communicate external test results to the school.

• If the school finds out about the COVID-19 positive test in the middle of the school day:
  • Make sure students who are close contacts are wearing masks.
  • If close contacts are symptomatic, they should be masked, and when feasible, be in a separate room with the door closed until they can be picked up. For full guidance for school health offices, please see Additional Information for School Health Offices

Districts and schools can contact the DESE Rapid Response Help Center at 781-338-3500 for guidance if they are experiencing a high volume of cases. Notification should also be provided to local boards of health and district leadership.

• Unvaccinated district and school staff and students who submit consent forms are strongly encouraged to participate in voluntary routine COVID pooled testing. This includes contracted staff such as bus drivers.
• Vaccinated staff and students may also participate in pooled testing if they submit consent forms; however, this is not recommended.
• It is not recommended that any individual who has tested positive for COVID-19 in the past 90 days participate in routine COVID pooled testing.

• Based on guidance from DPH, staff and students who are in grades kindergarten and above are encouraged to self-administer the nasal swab under appropriate supervision and at the discretion of the trained observer.
• Tests may also be administered at school either by trained school staff, including school health professionals, or trained onsite test specimen collectors

• “Membership” within a given pooled testing group should remain consistent when feasible.
• Teachers should be tested with their students to avoid staffing issues if each teacher needs an individual re-test.
• If districts or schools strongly prefer to create pooled testing groups composed exclusively of staff, they are limited to a maximum of 5 swabs per staff-only group and must have BinaxNOW tests available for immediate follow-up testing.

Routine COVID pooled testing should be conducted once a week in most scenarios.

In the case where a positive group pooled testing returns no BinaxNOW individual positives upon follow-up testing, all members of the group should remain in school and be tested by another BinaxNOW test 1-2 days after the initial negative result.

MVPCS is pleased to be the recipient of federal funds identified as “ESSER III” (Elementary and Secondary Schools Emergency Relief Funds) in the amount of $373,613.  In addition to this grant, our school was awarded several smaller and more targeted grants related to school response to the Covid-19 pandemic, cumulatively totaling in excess of $600,000.   These funds are available for use over multiple years.

Our plan for the use of these funds over the course of the pandemic,  has been focused on four primary areas of need that has arisen as a result of the impact of the pandemic on learning:

1. Maintaining adequate space to allow in-person learning with social distancing (a uniquely challenging task in a school that does not have large open indoor spaces such as an auditorium, gymnasium or cafeteria).
2. Provide adequate technology, including devices and internet access (individual student computers for all methods of learning (remote, hybrid, and in-person as well as loaner hot spots for those who do not have internet access).
3. Mitigating learning loss, both during times of school closure, remote learning and hybrid learning, as well as recovery efforts as students return to full in-person instruction.  We have specifically targeted enhancing instruction for those that have been most substantially impacted by the interruptions in the educational process, including students with special needs, English language learners, homeless students, economically disadvantaged students, and students in foster care. 
4. Meet the social and emotional  needs of students both during school closures, as well as upon their return to in-person learning.  The breadth of this impact thus far has been widespread and the students’ needs in this domain over the course of the years ahead is anticipated to continue to be a priority. 

Typically, the opportunity for stakeholder input in the planning of programs and budgets occurs through processes that are embedded in the structure of the operations of a school (Board of Trustee public  informational presentations on new programs and initiatives, budget and finance committee hearings, etc).  In our current circumstances and as a component of the awarding of the ESSER III grant specifically, we have reached out to multiple stakeholders to gain input about our use of these funds.  Included in those efforts have been placement on the agenda and opportunity for dialogue at a regular meeting of the Board of Trustees, school-wide faculty meeting, PTO meeting, and targeted meetings for parents of specific populations through a joint meeting of the Special Education Parent Advisory Council, ELPAC, Title I and other interested parties.  The format of the information dissemination was similar among the presentations to these groups as was the tool for collection of input.  

Shared here are components of  the actual grant submission to the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE).  Our application for these funds was approved by DESE on 11/3/2021 for use on expenditures for the period 10/3/2021 through 9/30/2024.  Please feel free to contact Pete Steedman with any questions.