Dear School Community,
Here is a link to our Reopening Plan that was Board approved on August 3, 2021.
We are committed to return to school on Wednesday, August 25 2021 in a way that will keep both our students and staff as safe as possible. We anticipate this plan to be active for the duration of the 2021-2022 school year. Ongoing re-evaluating of plans will take place with regular updates.
Let’s start with a positive note: The Kent City Schools replaced and upgraded our elementary school ventilation system during the summer (2021) by installing completely new HVAC air filtration systems along with air conditioning. The upgrade to our ventilation system included Bipolar Ionization, as well as an increase of outside air flow from 25% to 35% in each classroom. Each classroom will have fresh air turn over 3 times every hour, or every 20 minutes. Stanton Middle School and Roosevelt High School have been retrofitted with Bipolar Ionization during the summer (2021). This upgrade was completed using our No New Tax Bond Issue funds plus federal coronavirus funds.
We do reserve the right to go above recommendations and require masks for ALL individuals in our school buildings should we experience a surge in COVID cases within our school, district or community.
Expectations for Starting the 2021-2022 School Year in the Kent City Schools
- Students benefit from in-person learning, and safely returning to in-person instruction in the fall 2021 five days per week is a priority.
- Vaccination is currently the leading public health prevention strategy to end the COVID-19 pandemic. Promoting vaccination can help schools safely return to in-person learning as well as extracurricular activities and sports.
Note: (We provided two vaccine clinics for 12-18 year old students prior to the end of last school year.)
- We highly recommend masks to be worn indoors by all individuals (age 2 and older) regardless of vaccination status. (Otherwise, masks are optional in our schools.)
- Masks are required on all school transportation including buses and vans!
- CDC recommends schools maintain at least 3 feet of physical distance between students within classrooms, combined with indoor mask wearing to reduce transmission risk.
- Screening testing, ventilation, handwashing and respiratory etiquette, staying home when sick and getting tested, contact tracing in combination with quarantine and isolation, and cleaning and disinfection are also important layers of prevention to keep schools safe.
- Students, teachers, and staff should stay home when they have signs of any infectious illness and be referred to their healthcare provider for testing and care.
- We will offer vaccination clinics to students 11 and younger when vaccinations are approved by the CDC.
We will continue to monitor community transmission, vaccination coverage, screening testing, and occurrence of outbreaks to guide our decisions making with local health officials.
Thank you for your continued support of the Kent City Schools.
Stay safe,
George J. Joseph
Superintendent