CHEROKEE COUNTY, Ga. — Cherokee County schools has released it updated guidance for students and staff returning to school this fall. The district’s first day of school is Aug. 2.
In a release on July 14, the district said it plans to return to pre-pandemic school operations for the 2021-2022 school year.
[SPECIAL SECTION: Channel 2′s complete guide for back to school 2021 in north Georgia]
Here are the latest protocols for Cherokee County schools:
- CCSD will not issue mandated precautionary quarantines to students or staff for close contact at school with someone who has tested positive for COVID-19. When Principals are informed of a positive case among students or staff, they will notify any affected staff and email a notification to the parents of students in the affected classes notifying them of the positive case and the important need to monitor for symptoms, but no precautionary quarantines will be required. This is the same State-mandated practice CCSD follows for other serious communicable diseases.
- Students or staff who test positive for COVID-19 will continue to follow Department of Public Health guidelines, which require you to stay home for 10 days since symptoms first appeared and be fever-free, without use of fever-reducing medications, for 24 hours before returning to school.
- Staff and students are not required to wear masks in CCSD schools or offices at any time, but can choose to wear them. CCSD will continue to provide disposable masks to individuals who might request them.
- COVID-19 vaccinations are not required for employees or students, but are encouraged and recommended. The Cherokee County Health Department and many local healthcare providers have COVID-19 vaccines readily available; there are no plans to host COVID-19 vaccination events at CCSD schools or offices.
- Schools will hold open house/walk through events the last week of July; the schedule is posted online at https://bit.ly/CCSDopen. School supply lists also have been posted for all schools on the CCSD website at https://bit.ly/CCSDsupplies.
- Schools will return to their normal operating procedures for lunchtime and class bell schedules; and, assemblies and field trips will resume. Special events open to parents and families will resume, and parent volunteers will be permitted to work throughout the school, including in classrooms.
- CCSD will continue to invest in increased cleaning and sanitizing at all school locations and will continue to provide surface and hand sanitizer spray to classrooms. These measures, coupled with the significant investment last school year to upgrade ventilation filters and to replace water fountains with water bottle filling stations, appear to have made an improvement in overall student and staff health.
BACK 2 SCHOOL HEADLINES
- Back to School 2021: Here’s how to check your county’s vaccination rate
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- How to reduce your child’s COVID-19 risk if they’re too young to be vaccinated
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