LOVELAND MAGAZINE

News and Events from the Loveland, Ohio Area

Without fear or favor
Since 2004

Tag: mask policy

  • Loveland Schools COVID 19 Policy

    Loveland Schools COVID 19 Policy

    Loveland, Ohio – As students return to classes, below is the current COVID-19 Health Guidelines in effect for the Loveland City School District:

    COVID Health Guidelines Update Summary

     (effective 1/28/22, updated 5/9/22, 8/1/22)

    Background:  The quick spread of the omicron variants and their rapid clinical course have made universal contact tracing, case investigation and exposure notification impractical when combined with newly reduced timelines for quarantine and isolation (ODH).  This reflects changes at the state level dated 1/26/22.

    1. Positive cases
    • 5+5 (5 days of isolation, 5 days of masking) plan as outlined by HCPH (Hamilton County Public Health)/ ODH (Ohio Dept of Health). This is calculated from the first day of symptoms or positive test which is considered day 0.  If a student is not ready to come back after 5 days, parents would call to tell attendance daily if not returning.  They could do the entire isolation period (10 days) if needed. Re-evaluate after that. These are considered non-absence days 
    • Masking is not optional.  If you have been positive, you will need to mask for 5 days after being in isolation for 5 days.
    • There are no online learning links available.
    • Extracurriculars-  able to participate as long as able to mask.  Removing mask is not an option
    • District nurses (DN) make the follow up phone calls to parents once we are notified of a positive case.
    1. Close contacts
    • Close contact in an out of school setting  are now “mask to stay” kids regardless of vaccination status.  They need to be asymptomatic.  If they have symptoms or develop symptoms, parents should keep them home and connect with their healthcare provider for further guidance and/ or covid testing
    • Parents can choose to quarantine their child(ren) as recommended by HCPH (and we support),  but these are no longer non-absence days. Parents should tell the attendance person they are covid related. 
    1. If a student has a pending test and they have symptoms, we support keeping their child home until test results. If asymptomatic, they also can be at school masked during that time
    2. We will no longer be monitoring vaccination status
    3. These days are excused absences, but will continue to monitor

                      Related link: Mask to Stay

       3 . Testing

    • Accepting any testing currently except antibody testing.
    • Recommend testing day five per HCPH guidelines for exposures, but not required

    4.  Vaccines

    • We encourage everyone to talk to their health care provider for themselves and their children regarding getting vaccinated for COVID.  It is the best way to address COVID going forward.  Students over 5 are now eligible for the first booster vaccine

    5.  Extracurriculars (Test to Play)

    • Test to play- HCPH no longers requires (but recommends) a second covid test on day 5
    • HCPH states this is completely a parent/ student decision to make the right call.  If a student is aware of a being a close contact, and are not up-to-date on their vaccination, HCPH recommends test to play

    LCSD will continue to focus on “The Bundle”-  handwashing, cleaning, distancing as needed/ able to, and masking when appropriate/ optional choice.  Our entire staff is committed to keeping our students safe and healthy.  We need your support by you doing the wellness checks daily with your child(ren) and keeping them home if they are sick.   Thanks for partnering with us- we can do anything together!!

  • Loveland schools going remote Thursday and Friday

    Loveland schools going remote Thursday and Friday

    by David Miller

    Loveland, Ohio – Because of COVID 19, Loveland City Schools will be in asynchronous learning on Thursday, January 13, and Friday, January 14.

    Teachers will be sending work home with their children at the end of their class day on Wednesday.

    Asynchronous learning means Thursday and Friday are still learning days for students, but they will be learning from home.

    Asynchronous learning is a term used to describe forms of education, instruction, and learning that do not occur in the same place or at the same time. 

    Superintendent Mike Broadwater said in a video message today that “Staff will be reporting to the buildings and be available to support students remotely.” He said that absences and illnesses have not only affected students, but also the teaching staff, bus drivers, food services, and custodial staff. He added that according to CDC guidelines that if a staff member tests positive for COVID 19 it means they must quarantine from the buildings or their workplace for 5-days.

    Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and the Martin Luther King Holiday will mean students will not be in the buildings for 5 straight days before returning on Tuesday, January 18.

    Broadwater announced that the District will not change its current mask policy when students return on January 18. The current mask policy is that masks are optional for grades 7 through 12. Masking is required in grades PreK through 6th.

    Despite this setback, the Superintendent added “I’m very proud of the fact that we have done such a good job at keeping our kids in school this year.

    At the beginning of each week, the Loveland City School District releases its latest Covid 19 Dashboard. Below is the first COVID 19 report issued by the District since students returned to classes after their Winter Break. This story lets you review all of the Dashboard reports for the school year.

    Loveland Schools Covid-19 Dashboard for January 9, 2022

    David Miller –  Jan 10, 2022

  • Loveland School District – We’re not lip-readers, take your mask off

    Loveland School District – We’re not lip-readers, take your mask off

    Commentary

    David Miller is the Editor and Publisher of Loveland Magazine

    by David Miller

    Tumultuous speculation is spreading as fast as a delta variant through our school district about whether masking and face protection will be required when the school year begins – and we hear nary a peep from school leadership.

    School begins in 17 days, and even if one wants to know what the current policy is for protection against catching or spreading COVID 19 and the Delta Variant, one would have to be a genius web-searching sleuth to find it. It’s not to be found on the new and “improved” school website or their social media pages.

    It can be discovered, but not easily. And, certainly not through any help provided by District leadership.

    So why does the public hear wildly speculative and false information about the current school policy on outside social pages such as Nextdoor or individual Facebook pages, knowing the school leadership also reads the false information, yet lets it stand?

    A nervous public, read especially parents, should be shown more respect than the masked self-gagging school leadership is providing. Parents are trying to make plans. Do you have one?

    Perhaps the self-censorship is so they can measure public opinion first, with a moistened finger pointed to the wind before re-proclaiming what the current policy is. And, if that is the case they are making decisions not based on science or medical advice but on what way they perceive the political winds are gusting.

    That kind of decision-making process is as dangerous to our children as debating your policy standing downwind un-masked from your un-masked vaccine denying uncle inside a school locker.

    The public needs a statement from the District immediately of the current policy which should include a narrative of their intentions to stick with it or not.

    Currently, there is a Board “Work Session” scheduled for August 10, the week before classes begin, yet no agenda is available for the public to see if the masking policy will even be discussed. If a new policy is announced that night, it’s awfully late.

    Seventeen days before mostly unvaccinated children board school buses – the very least a nervous, mostly un-informed, un-masked, and un-vaccinated, public deserves is something, just something.