• Employees and students who are sick, have a temperature or who have recently had “close contact” with a person with COVID-19 are asked to stay at home. This includes any individuals who have tested positive for COVID-19, are displaying possible symptoms of COVID-19, or have had “close contact” with individuals with confirmed cases of COVID-19.

• With the full return to in-person learning, D60 will not require any specific social distance expectations.
• PK-12 students should have assigned seats in each classroom to facilitate contact tracing, if necessary. All classes will need to have an accurate and current seating chart.

• Per the August 27, 2021 Public Health Order by the Pueblo Department of Pueblo Health and Environment, masks will be required for staff, students and visitors, regardless of COVID-19 vaccination status.  Specifically, the Public Health Order reads:
  • “All individuals age two (2) and older (students, visitors, staff, and contractors) must wear a Face Covering while inside any school building or childcare center or while participating in any indoor school-sponsored sport or school-sponsored indoor extracurricular activity within Pueblo County, regardless of vaccination status.”
• Per the August 27, 2021 Public Health Order by the Pueblo Department of Pueblo Health and Environment, a mask or face covering means:
  • “a covering made of cloth, fabric, or other soft or permeable material, without holes, that covers only the nose and mouth and surrounding areas of the lower face. Mesh, netting, or similarly porous material does not meet the requirements or definition of a Face Covering. A Face Covering may be factory-made or may be handmade and improvised by using ordinary household materials. The Face Covering should fit snugly but comfortably against the side of the face; allow for breathing without restriction; and either be constructed of disposable mask materials or include multiple layers of fabric that can be laundered and machine-dried without damage or change to shape.”
• This guidance applies to all D60 schools and school district buildings.
• As required by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), all individuals will be required to wear a mask on D60 and STA transportation when boarding, disembarking and for the duration of travel.
• Masks must always cover the nose and mouth. Masks should be replaced if they become dirty, wet, and/or difficult to breathe through.
• Any adult or student who because of health considerations is unable to wear a mask will be handled on a case by case basis and accommodations may be made.
• Visitors and district staff will be required to wear a mask in order to enter the building
• Masks must fit appropriately, must be worn to cover nose and mouth, and should not be shared.
• Masks may be taken off during outdoor recess, exercise activities (i.e., high aerobic PE activities).
• Students and staff will be expected to wash cloth face masks with soap and water, rinse and dry masks at home daily or wear a clean mask to school.
• Extra disposable paper masks will be available in each school for students, adult staff members, and visitors who may forget their mask. 

• Proper hand washing protocols will continue to be taught to all students, and frequent hand washing will be encouraged/scheduled whenever feasible (when in classrooms with sinks, during restroom visits).
• Students will be encouraged to wash hands or use provided hand sanitizer directly before eating lunch.
• Students will be encouraged to wash hands or use hand sanitizer after using shared equipment -ie. playground, athletic equipment.

• Although not required, D60 schools may place developmentally appropriate signage: social distancing and good hygiene (handwashing). Signs may be hung on walls and stickers placed on floors of public areas, including the cafeteria, hallways, front office, classrooms and all major entrances.

• As required by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), all individuals will
  be required to wear a mask on D60 and STA transportation when boarding,
  disembarking and for the duration of travel.
• Bussing will operate normal schedules.
• Busses will be disinfected between routes.

• High touch areas (bathrooms, water fountains, door handles, shared surfaces, etc.) will be cleaned throughout the day by custodians.
• As necessary and/or appropriate, buildings will be disinfected regularly using appropriate disinfectant, sprayers and foggers.

• Students and staff will be able to use water fountains. The use of water bottles is encouraged but not required. Water bottles should not be shared.
• As in the past, disposable plastic bottles of water may be provided during high heat days only, as needed.

• Buildings will increase circulation of outdoor air as much as possible by opening windows and doors, as long as doing so does not pose a safety risk. (This may need to be limited in air conditioned buildings during extremely hot weather.).
• Fans and other devices for circulating indoor air should be minimized; however, they may be used in extreme heat conditions.

• Textbooks and supplies may be shared if necessary for instructional purposes
• Sharing/checking out of Media Center books will be permitted.

• Student hallway and PE/athletic lockers may be used.

• All kitchens will be fully cleaned and sanitized daily.
• Breakfast and lunch will be served per normal school routines and schedules
• Sneeze guards and barriers will continue to be used in the serving line.
• Masks and/or face shields and gloves will be worn by all nutrition services workers.
• PreK-8 students will have assigned seats during lunch when indoors.

• High aerosol classes, including PE, will continue to be encouraged to meet outdoors when possible.
• Students will be encouraged to wash hands or use hand sanitizer before and after
• PE class if equipment is shared.
• PE lockers may be used.

• Instruments will not be shared by students (drummers issued their own drum sticks, etc.).
• All brass and most woodwind instruments should continue to use “instrument bell mask” during practice (not required during dress rehearsal and performances).
• Spit valves should be emptied on a moisture collecting material (i.e. puppy pads) and discarded by the student at the end of every class period.

• All athletic practices and events will follow normal athletic procedures as well as the current guidelines from CHSAA and the local health department.

Arrival/Dismissal

• D60 schools will return to normal arrival and dismissal routines.

Hallway Transitions

• “One way” hallways and/or staggered transition times will not be required. Individual schools may enact such procedures per their discretion.

Visitors and Volunteers

• Outside visitors, volunteers and community partners will be permitted.
• Use of school facilities by outside organizations will be permitted.

Responding to Illness, COVID “Close Contact” Exposure, and Confirmed COVID Cases

Below are CDPHE protocols for addressing positive cases and close contacts.
Isolation

• Individuals should stay home from work, school, and activities when a person is sick or diagnosed with COVID-19. Isolation lasts for at least 10 days (specifically ten 24-hour periods) after the onset of symptoms — and for 24 hours after being fever-free without the aid of fever-reducing medication and if the person shows an improvement of symptoms. For people who have not had symptoms, isolation lasts 10 days from the day they had their first positive test. In rare instances (for example, if a person was very sickor has certain medical problems), isolation may last 20 days. Public health experts do not recommend repeat testing to decide when to end the period of isolation except in rare circumstances in consultation with a medical provider. Find information about how to isolate.

Quarantine

• Individuals should stay home from work, school, and activities after a person was in close contact with someone with COVID-19. Find guidance on how to quarantine and how long quarantine lasts. A person should not attend work, school, or out of school activities if they are under quarantine following an exposure in school. If a person develops symptoms of COVID-19 during their quarantine period, they should begin isolation.

Reporting of Positive COVID-19 Cases

• School districts are able to disclose this information to local and state public health officials without prior written consent under FERPA’s health or safety emergency exception, because a person with COVID-19 represents a potential threat to the health and safety of others at the school. This is true even if there is not an outbreak.
• Public health then interviews the people who have COVID-19 and conducts contact tracing to determine who might be close contacts of the case, and makes recommendations about isolation and quarantine.
• The Office of Human Resources and the Office of Student Support Services will serve as the official D60 reporting parties. Schools and departments should immediately share any COVID-19 positive case information to the appropriate office.

D60 PreK-12 Instructional Delivery Model

D60 believes that in person learning is the optimal instructional delivery model for most PreK-12 learners and therefore will return all PreK-12 students to in person, full time instruction beginning the first official day of school, Tuesday, August 17, 2021. Each school will also plan for and communicate with parents regarding a “re-orientation” day for students at all grade levels on Monday, August 16, 2021. This will provide a “soft start” for students to be welcomed back to school, to begin to form strong relationships with their teachers, and to engage in team building activities with peers and school staff.

Online School Options

• If a family desires online instruction for their student, they will need to fill out a school transfer request to D60 Online (grades 1-8) or Dutch Clark at Paragon (grades 9-12). It is important for parents to recognize that this should be a long term decision, and should not be considered for anyone anticipating less than a full year’s worth of online instruction. D60 will not offer online learning to students in preschool or kindergarten in the 2021-22 school year.

Use of Technology

• Each student in grades K-12 will be issued a district technology device (chromebook) for their use throughout the school year. All classrooms will capitalize on the use of digital textbooks, teacher presentations, assessments, and applications as part of their daily in-classroom instruction as well as for homework as appropriate.

Seating Charts

• PreK-12 students will be assigned a specific seat within each classroom. PreK-8 students will have assigned seats during lunch when indoors.

COVID-related student absences, including quarantines

• Most COVID-related student absences and quarantines will be treated like a regular student absence. In accordance with Board policy, make-up work shall be provided for any class in which a student has an excused or unexcused absence. It is the responsibility of the student/parent/guardian to pick up any make-up assignments which will receive full credit. There shall be one day allowed for make-up work for each day of absence.
  
  COVID-related student absences, including quarantines, will be excused.