La Grande Pride
www.lagrandesd.org • August 2022
7
EMERGENCY OPERATION PLAN UPDATE
Handling Covid moving forward
By Trish Yerges
The La Grande School Dis-
trict has updated its Emergency
Operation Plan to reflect the
current guidelines for dealing
with cases of COVID through-
out the 2022-2023 school year.
Assistant Superintendent
Scott Carpenter, who is involved
in creating the Emergency Op-
eration Plan for the district, has
updated the plan to provide ap-
propriate responses to any cases
of COVID among the student
population.
“First, if you suspect you
have COVID, get tested,” Car-
penter said. “We have test kits
that we can help students with
or they can see their medical
provider or contact the Center
for Human Development to get
tested. Then call the school if
you have a positive response to
the test.”
Parents can find the COVID
Response Plan at the district’s
website
(lagrandesd.org/covidmanagement)
and read the protocols that
schools will follow in response
to a COVID outbreak.
There are three different
tiers to the district’s response
plan that the State requires.
The first is the Emergency
Operation Plan, which is a
macro plan for how the district
responds to emergencies. This
plan was developed over the
course of multiple years, and
the first version came out in
2020. A second subsequent
version came out in 2021, which
continues to be the district’s up-
to-date plan.
“Below that, we have a Com-
municable Disease Plan, and
we updated that this past July
by looking at updated Center
for Disease Control guidelines
and protocols and incorporating
their new guidelines into that
document,” he added.
Lastly, current State guide-
lines require a School Manage-
ment Plan, and that will be
completed prior to the deadline
of August 26.
“That plan is reviewed by
our medical committee, includ-
ing members from the Grande
Ronde Hospital, the Center for
Human Development, the local
public health department, our
school nurses and other team
members, who are very familiar
with the medical protocols and
medical science,” Carpenter
said.
The district’s goal this year
is to have in-person school every
day on site and make school as
normal as possible.
Administration is looking
forward to offering students
opportunities in extracurricular
activities and sports, involve-
ment in Career-Technology-En-
gineering programs and intern-
ships and just experiencing a
regular school day. Carpenter
said that they want the kids
to enjoy their experiences at
school.
“If there are spikes in CO-
VID, we will respond through-
out the year as they arise,” he
advised. “We have a committee
and medical team to review
those circumstances and deter-
mine when we need to increase
our mitigations. We will always
do the least impact for the best
results.”
Of course, families will be
advised throughout the school
year if circumstances call for
more guarded measures at
school. “The Superintendent
and I are planning on various
public releases to keep people
updated like we did last year,”
he said. “We will do Town Hall
virtual meetings and then load
them onto the website as a
resource.”
School health is a shared
responsibility, but often the
first line of defense starts at
home with observant parents.
Are you trying to determine if
your child is too sick to come to
school? Then visit the district’s
website at
lagrandesd.org/covidmanagement.
Click on the icon called “Is my
child too sick for school?”
This same webpage will have
contact information for all of the
school nurses under the icon,
“Counseling Resources”. Of
course, parents may always con-
tact their child’s school principal
for fast responses about your
child’s sickness and whether
your child should stay home.
Updated COVID Isolation and Quarantine Guidelines
When should my student stay home?
Student experiencing 1 or more primary
symptoms for COVID – Confirmed or
Unconfirmed Case
(Individual is SICK)
Confirmed Positive Case – Positive Test
(Individual is SICK)
Close Contact to a positive case at home or
school or community AND experiencing no
primary symptoms
(Individual is NOT SICK)
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5 days isolation from symptoms onset
24 hours fever-free and symptoms improving
5 days isolation from symptoms onset
24 hours fever-free and symptoms improving
No quarantine required
Important Updates:
Student/Staff are required to “stay home if they are sick” under these new guidelines.
Previous exposures/illness or vaccination status do not alter or adjust requirements above.
With new highly transmissible variants it is highly likely individuals will get reinfected periodically regardless of
prior exposures or vaccination.
What are considered primary symptoms?
Primary Symptoms for COVID-19
Variants
Definition of “Up to Date” Vaccination
Status
For more information on booster timelines, see:
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-
ncov/vaccines/booster-shot.html
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Temp of 100.4F degrees of higher
Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing
Persistent, irregular, or uncontrollable cough
New loss of taste or smell
Youth 5–50 years are recommended to receive all
recommended vaccine doses, including a booster.
Individuals 50 years and older OR some people 12 years and
older who are moderately or severely immunocompromised
are recommended to receive all recommended vaccine
doses, including 2 boosters.
How should my student access learning when they are home sick?
Learning During the Required COVID
Isolation Period
(5 days)
Contact your student’s teacher by phone or email.
Get connected to the teacher’s classroom updates.
Get connected to the teacher’s Google Classroom.
Complete assigned coursework and activities.
Turn in all completed coursework via Google Classroom,
when student returns, or within the school absence policy
timeline (max. 5 additional days after illness.)