Roadrunner Families,
As a reminder, there will be no school on Monday as our staff engages in Fall Conferences with families to share their student’s progress and set the course for a very successful year. On Tuesday evening, we will hold our monthly PTA Meeting to discuss important topics, including the possibilities for a Fall Carnival later in the month. There will be a Principal’s Coffee on Thursday morning at 9:00. Then on Friday, its time for our Roadrunner Fun Run! Students from all grade levels will be running around the perimeter of our campus with a final lap around our newly refurbished track. Family members who would like to cheer on their Roadrunners are welcome to gather along our front sidewalk. We are excited for the return of this fitness focused tradition!
As you may have noticed, we have sent out a number of COVID-19 notifications recently. We are working diligently to keep all students, staff and families as safe and healthy as possible and we ask for your assistance. In coordination with our School Health Team, we are working hard to decipher between common illnesses (colds, allergies, etc.) and COVID-19. As we work to do this as effectively as possible, the following measures are in place for families experiencing any illness. In order to control communicable diseases at school, your child is expected to stay home or will be sent home for the following reasons:
Fever (100.0 or greater), severe headache, body aches, sore throat, diarrhea, vomiting, new rash, new cough, new congestion/runny nose, conjunctivitis (Pink Eye), and/or a sudden loss of taste or smell.
During the COVID-19 Pandemic, student may return to in-person school only when you provide:
A statement from a Health Care Provider that symptoms are not COVID-related (alternative diagnosis), OR
10 days have passed since the start of symptoms and illness symptoms have resolved, OR
a NEGATIVE COVID test and illness symptoms have resolved completely.
When in doubt, please keep your student home or consult with our School Health Team prior to sending them to school. For families who have a student who has experienced the symptoms listed above, should also reach out to our our School Health Team prior to sending your student to school. They can be reached at tori.mcfadden@austinisd.org and susan.guerrero@austinisd.org. We will need to see an alternative diagnosis from their doctor or an official copy of the negative test results before they will be allowed to return to class. A note from parents/caregivers that a student has received a negative test result or alternative diagnosis will not suffice as we need to see an official document for either of these.
Additionally, if a member of the household is either waiting for COVID-19 testing results or has tested positive for COVID-19, please contact our school health office for guidance immediately. We received the following close contact at home update from AISD this week:
The student/staff member will quarantine 10 days from the last date of exposure, but a 14-day quarantine may be required for individuals at increased risk for serious illness.
The new protocol states the following:
The student/staff member will quarantine 10* days from the date of the family member’s positive test result. In the event that an additional family member/members become positive, the date of the new test result will reset the 10* day quarantine period. The student or employee may be released early from quarantine after 7 full days if symptom-free and with a negative test on or after day 5. *A 14-day quarantine may be required for individuals at increased risk for serious illness.
The change in protocol will decrease the likelihood of a student or staff member being assigned a 20+ day quarantine which negatively impacts student access to education and a parent/staff member’s ability to work.
We are all working hard to keep every member of our school community as safe and healthy as possible. Please do not hesitate to reach out to me or a member of our School Health Team with questions or concerns. We greatly appreciate your assistance with our efforts.
https://www.austinisd.org/student-health/covid-19
Lastly, we have attached our Morning Traffic Pattern for everyone to review. In general, everyone has done a fantastic job following the plan and we want to reiterate it’s importance in making things flow smoothly for drop off. Please remember to use your turn signal at all times and afford others as much courtesy as possible. We are seeing a lot of students arriving after the tardy bell and met today with the Attendance Specialist from McCallum High school to assist with efforts in getting students to school on time. We will be sounding out attendance letters soon in an effort to help get everyone here on time, so please make sure your Roadrunner is here well before the sound of the bell. We appreciate your assistance and wish you all a wonderful long weekend.
Many thanks,
John Hewlett
Principal - Russell Lee Elementary School
John.Hewlett@Austinisd.org
512-414-1117
@LeeRoadrunners
