Clear Lake News 9.28.21

English: English Health and Safety Message

Spanish: Spanish Health and Safety Message

Now that we have welcomed students back into the building with five-day-a-week, full-time instruction, it’s important that you understand what communication will take place should our school or Bethel School District have a COVID-19 event occur during in-person learning. “Events” may include positive COVID cases, outbreaks, or exposures.

If a positive COVID-19 case is identified at our school, the District will coordinate with Lane County Public Health regarding communication:

• All persons determined to be exposed to a positive case through close contact will be individually notified and given directions for possible quarantine measures
• The school district nurse will work directly with the individual diagnosed with COVID and will consult with Lane County Public Health about actions that are needed.
• When an event occurs in our school or District that impacts the school or a program, affected families and staff will receive information via (email, alert, notification), including District response measures.
• If an individual from our school community has been diagnosed with COVID-19 but it has been determined that there is no potential exposure to the school community, no communication will be shared from the school or the District.

As required by privacy laws, our communications will not identify a particular student or staff member as having COVID-19, or disclose other personally identifiable information about that person without their prior written consent.

We want our community to continue to be well and protect themselves against COVID-19. Here are some ways to protect your family and the school community:

• Keep children home if they are sick. Do not send them to school.
• Teach your children to wash their wash with soap and water for 20 seconds.
• Teach your children to cover coughs and sneezes with tissues or by coughing into the inside of their elbow.
• Talk to your children about social distancing.
• If you have questions, contact your school nurse, healthcare provider or Lane County Public Health.

More information can be found on Lane County Public Health COVID-19 website, the Oregon Department of Education’s Ready Schools, Safe Learners page, and the Oregon Health Authority’s COVID-19 page. If you have any questions related to this communication plan, you can contact us–we’re happy to help.

We are excited to announce free COVID-19 Screening Testing for Bethel students for the 2021-22 school year! This program is completely voluntary and made possible through our partnership with The University of Oregon (UO) and Oregon Health Authority (OHA).

Why Participate?

Routine screening testing (testing of people who do not have COVID symptoms) is a way to identify people who are infected with COVID-19 and may pass the virus to others, even though they don’t feel sick. Weekly screening tests can quickly identify people who are positive and allow them to quarantine/isolate. This helps reduce the spread of the virus and can slow down an outbreak.

How does the program work?

• To opt in, parents/guardians need to register using the UO’s testing portal and complete the consent form (see links below).
• Participating students receive a welcome packet, including information on how to use the simple at-home saliva test, tube labels and other supplies.
• Weekly, students will pick up a test collection kit from their school and return it on pre-set days.
• Samples are picked up from the school and shipped to the UO’s clinical lab in Eugene where they are processed using a highly accurate PCR test.
• Results will be available in the secure results portal 1-2 business days after they are received by the lab. Families will get an email/text notification letting them know when to check the portal.
• Results will also be sent to local public health officials but are not released directly to schools.
• More FAQ’s can be found here.

Opting In Is Easy!

Sign up in 2 easy steps:

1. Please fill out the registration survey at https://tinyurl.com/k12covidtesting
2. Complete the electronic consent form below.

Please note: you will receive an email from the U of O instructing you to fill out a consent form, print it off and give it to your school. Please do not do this. We converted the paper form to an electronic version form below to make it easier for families. Please only use the links below:

English

• Ages 5-14 
• Ages 15-19

This project is supported by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of a financial assistance award to the State of Oregon. The contents are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement, by HHS, or the U.S. Government.