Dear Students, Staff and Families,
At their last meeting on Monday, March 7th, the Sanford School Committee approved updating our 2021-2022 Return to School Plan making masks / face coverings optional to align with the updated Standard Operating Procedures from the Maine Department of Health and Human Services and the Maine Department of Education effective Wednesday, March 9, 2022. Students and staff who wish to continue to mask for any reason are most certainly welcome to do so.
At the same March 7th meeting, the Sanford School Committee also voted to suspend all mitigation strategies effective the end of the school day on Friday, March 11, 2022. Use this link to review updated mitigation strategies based on this decision: https://bit.ly/3I2OVY7
To assist, we have also developed a list of frequently asked questions that can be accessed via this link: https://5il.co/171di
The following procedures will remain in place to ensure everyone is safe based on the updated changes:
- Continued masking will be optional for both students and staff. KN95 masks continue to be available in schools.
- Weekly pool testing will continue to be optional for anyone who is interested.
- A positive test will require a five (5) day quarantine from the date of symptom onset or from the date of the positive test if no symptoms.
- Masking will be required for an additional five (5) days after release from quarantine and a return to school (days 6-10).
We will continue to emphasize hand hygiene, frequent hand washing, and increased ventilation in our schools. We continue to ask that students and staff not attend school if they are feeling ill.
As we approach the two-year anniversary of the onset of COVID-19, I am hopeful that these changes signal that our school interactions with each other can return to normal. We will continue to monitor COVID conditions and review attendance data, positive cases, pooled testing data, CDC recommendations and Maine/York County data.
We are sharing this update with our stakeholders to make everyone aware of these upcoming changes that will take effect on Monday, March 14th. I ask that we all continue to model understanding, compassion and civility as we make this transition.
Thank you for your continued support throughout this entire pandemic.
Matt Nelson
Superintendent of Schools