Family Update Letter #1

Dear Smyth Families,

With the school year now in full swing, our students are settling into good routines with their classes, their extracurricular activities, and adhering to the health and safety protocols that we’ve put in place to keep them safe - face masks, social distancing, regular hand-washing, COVID-19 testing, and most importantly, vaccinations for all eligible students. We are also committed to providing regular updates to families regarding how CPS is managing the pandemic to keep our learning environment safe.

Things are continuing to trend in a positive direction. The number of cases among students and staff are continuing to decline. The number of staff and students who are in quarantine or isolation due to the virus is also lower than it was a week ago, which means that more of our children and the educators who support them are in the classroom where they belong.

The data from the past week continues to show us that schools are not a significant source of spread for COVID-19, and that nearly all cases of COVID among students and staff have been isolated incidents. I encourage you to visit the CPS COVID site for more detailed information, including data about our school and the district at large.

As you may have heard, CPS is now requiring every staff member to be fully vaccinated or consent to weekly COVID-19 testing. More than 88 percent of the teachers and staff who are serving your children have reported being fully vaccinated, with more CPS employees joining this list each day. Those staff who have not received the vaccine are being tested for COVID-19 weekly to help ensure safety for everyone in our school communities.

Out of more than 18,000 tests administered to students and staff across CPS last week, fewer than 0.2 percent of tests came back positive.

With additional testers coming on board every day, CPS is moving closer to the goal of administering 40,000 tests weekly by the end of this month. The district is also exploring ways to use this testing more strategically, including placing a greater emphasis on testing unvaccinated staff and students. I strongly encourage any parent who has not done so already to register your child for COVID-19 testing at cps.edu/covid.

In the weeks and months ahead, CPS will be increasingly focused on getting as many CPS students as possible vaccinated against COVID-19. Vaccine eligibility for 5 to 11-year-olds is being considered by the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) next week, and approval for this age group could come soon after. I want you to know that when it does, CPS will be fully ready with a comprehensive campaign to educate communities on the benefits of the vaccine and to help children in every corner of our city get vaccinated.

I thank you for your continued trust during this unusual school year, and I look forward to sharing more updates on how we are managing the pandemic. As always, I encourage you to contact me directly with any questions or concerns.

Sincerely,

Dana Turner