SENECA EAST LOCAL SCHOOLS

January 15, 2021 Dear SE Families and Community, Seneca East returned to school after an extended holiday break on January 11, 2021. Thank you for your flexibility and support throughout this unusual time. As we head into the new calendar year we are hopeful that we will be able to have all students at school every day until the end of the year. It is so important that we follow our safety protocols for this to happen. Please help us by keeping students home from school when they display symptoms of COVID, including a new cough, difficulty breathing, fever, a loss of taste or smell, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, or when displaying multiple lower risk symptoms such as congestion, runny nose, sore thought, and headache. It is also critically important the students stay home from school and sports when a member of the household has tested positive or is waiting on test results. Spread within the family unit is typical. When students from a household with COVID participate in school and other activities we have seen the spread of COVID. From the start of the school year until December 18, 2020 (the last day of school before Christmas break) we had a total of 15 positive COVID cases involving staff and students at Seneca East. From December 15 to January 15, 2021, we have had an additional 13 positive COVID cases at Seneca East. This significant increase over the past month is a reflection of the spread of COVID in our community. We hope the rate of community spread begins to trend downward now that holiday gatherings are past. School staff members are in line for COVID vaccinations in Phase 1B of Ohio’s vaccine distribution. It will take several weeks to distribute all of the vaccine given the limited doses available. At this time we do not know when Seneca East staff will have the opportunity to be vaccinated. The state’s rollout will be adjusted based on vaccine availability. The week of Jan. 19: Ohioans 80 years of age and older. The week of Jan. 25: Ohioans 75 years of age and older; those with severe congenital or developmental disorders. The week of Feb. 1: Ohioans 70 years of age and older; employees of K-12 schools that wish to remain or return to in-person or hybrid models. The week of Feb. 8: Ohioans 65 years of age and older. Recently the Ohio Department of Health has modified the guidelines for quarantining students. The Seneca County Health Department is following these new recommendations. We continue to work with the Seneca County Health Department to determine quarantine decisions. Going forward students who are exposed to a person who is positive for COVID will be quarantined but have school privileges if the following conditions are met: -The exposure occurred within the classroom environment or while on required school transportation (e.g., school bus). -The person with COVID -19 and any associated contacts were wearing facemasks that covered their nose and mouth at all times. -If meals were consumed, a distance of at least 6 feet between students must have been maintained. -In a classroom setting, social distancing was maintained at least 3 feet apart. The above applies only to classroom settings. In all other situations, including extracurricular activities and sports, school privileges do not apply. Students who have exposure in these situations would be required to stay home from school. The following Q/A may add some additional clarity to the quarantine changes: Q: Does a student who tests positive for COVID still have to be removed from school and be isolated for 10 days? A: Yes Q: Do students who sit near a positive student in the classroom have to quarantine from school? A: It depends on several factors: students seated by the positive student in the classroom will not need to quarantine from school if they are seated 3 feet or more apart and wearing masks the entire time they are in class; however, these students would need to quarantine from all other outside activities including sports. Students seated within 3 feet of the positive student would need to quarantine from school and all activities. Q: Do students have to quarantine if they sit with a COVID-positive person during lunch? A: Yes, this is because masks are removed during lunch. The amount of time the students are without masks does NOT matter. If the students are unmasked for any amount of time and within 6 feet of a positive student, they must quarantine for 10 days from class and 14 days from all other activities. We will continue to notify parents and the community when we have a positive case of COVID and exposure occurred at the school as a result of this positive case. Thank you for your continued support as we make our way through this challenging time. I want to emphasize again how much I appreciate your flexibility and adaptability. Sincerely, Laura A. Kagy Superintendent

Mrs. New's 10th grade English classes wrote to celebrities to practice proper letter format. So far they have received: autographs from OSU Coach- Ryan Day and actor-Jack Black, a personalized, handwritten letter from YouTuber "Skeppy", a letter & sticker from Gatorade, guitar picks from Toby Keith, a package from YouTuber & farmer "Millennial Farmer", and a signed vinyl from the band Glass Animals- sent all the way from London, England!

Order your elementary and middle school yearbooks here! Go to https://ybpay.lifetouch.com/. Enter the code: 2367921. You will be able to order elementary and middle school yearbooks through March 14, 2021.

Bus 8 will be running about 20 minutes late to pick up the rest of the route due to a mechanical issue.

Seneca East has extended the holiday break by a week. Students will now return to class at Seneca East on January 11, 2021. Transportation for Sentinel students will be provided from Seneca East to Sentinel next week.

PLEASE help spread the word to SE families, Seneca East students will return to school on January 11, 2021. Today's (January 2, 2021) Advertiser Tribune weekend edition reported that we are planning to return on January 4th, this is INCORRECT.

December 31, 2020 SE Families and Community, Many of you may be aware that Governor DeWine encouraged schools to delay the return to in-person instruction by one week as a precautionary measure to help slow the spread of COVID-19 after the holiday gatherings. This week, I have communicated with the Seneca County Health Department to determine our level of spread in the Seneca East area. The holidays have made this difficult, although there does appear to be an increase in testing and positive cases in our area. The health department does feel it would be helpful to delay the return to in-person instruction. This is not an easy decision as we have worked very hard to stay in school all year. However, in our community's best interest, we have decided to extend the holiday break another week. Instead of returning to class on January 4th students will now return on January 11th. To make up for the lost instructional time we will be developing a plan to transition future calamity days (snow days) to remote learning days. We fully intend to return to in-person instruction the week of January 11th. Thank you for your support, as I know this is not a message anyone wanted to receive. Information regarding remote learning days instead of future snow days will be shared with students and families after we return to school on January 11th. We will also be providing meals to families who need assistance next week. Please complete the meal request form by copying and pasting the link provided here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1u6xsVTYi7A-PIx02JPvw_o4A8SFwyz6M3XYIV_f6VqE/edit?ts=5fee122d&gxids=7628 Requests for meals should be provided by Sunday at 7 pm for pick up on Monday between 1:30-2:30 pm at the front of the school for curbside pick up. Thank you again for your understanding. We have worked so hard to be in school this year that this is a difficult message to send. I realize it is getting late into New Year's Eve when this message is posting, but I also realize the more time families have to make arrangements for child care the better. Laura Kagy, Superintendent

The boys JV / varsity basketball game with Monroeville that was scheduled for this coming Monday, December 28 has been postponed due to a positive COVID case on the visiting team.

December 22, 2020 SE Families and Community, We have completed the contact tracing and have contacted all families directly impacted by today's positive COVID-19 case on the girls' basketball team. If you have not received a call you are not affected by this case. The information has been shared with both the Seneca and Huron County Health Departments and students who are required to quarantine should be contacted by the Seneca County Health Department in the future. Laura Kagy, Superintendent

Tonight's girls basketball game against Colonel Crawford is canceled. This is due to a positive case of COVID-19, more information will be forthcoming.

December 18, 2020 SE Families and Community Update, We learned of a staff member testing positive for COVID-19 last night. This case did not affect anyone at Seneca East outside of the immediate family. Today we did have to quarantine the 7th-grade girls' basketball team. The team was exposed to a player from another school who tested positive for COVID-19. We plan to be back in school five days a week after Christmas break, on January 4, 2021. Laura Kagy

Students in grades 6-12 will follow the 1,2,3 period schedule today, Friday December 18, 2020.

Seneca East is on a 2-Hour delay today, Friday, December 18, 2020

Swim with Santa at the YMCA on Sunday, December 20 from 2pm-4pm! See the flyer for more information.

Google is reporting that their services have been restored.

FCCLA and SADD will be collecting the following items for Ronald McDonald House: Light bulbs, paper towels, cleaning products, gallon size trash bags, napkins, hand soap,granola bars, fruit snacks, chips, pretzels, popcorn, bottle water. You can take them to Mrs. McGathey's room.

Good Monday morning. We just learned that Google services are currently out world wide. This can effect just a simply search to trying to login into your account. Please be patient. We will update you when the service has been restored.

December 10, 2020 Dear SE Families and Community, I want to inform you that we received word of a staff member who tested positive for COVID-19 today. No students were in close contact with this staff member. We continue to work with the Seneca County Health Department for every case of COVID-19 involving the school community. Again, we ask that students who have symptoms of COVID-19 stay home from school and isolate themselves from others. We also require that students stay home from school if anyone in the household is waiting for test results from a COVID-19. Thank you for your continued support! Laura Kagy, Superintendent

December 7, 2020 Dear SE Families and Community, Today we learned of a staff member who has tested positive for COVID-19. If your child was identified as close contact with this individual, you have already been contacted by Amy Ferres, the school nurse. If you have not received a call, your child is not impacted by this positive case. As a reminder, close contact is defined as being within 6 feet for 15 minutes. This notice should serve as a reminder that COVID-19 is present in our area. As members of the Seneca East community, we need to take steps to ensure our own safety and the safety of others. If your child is sick, please have him/her stay home, and if anyone in your household is waiting for COVID-19 test results, please keep your child(ren) home from school until a negative test result is confirmed, even if symptoms improve while you are waiting for these results. Thank you for everything you have done and are doing to reduce the spread of COVID-19 at Seneca East. Every week we can keep Seneca East's level low is another week we can be in school full time with face-to-face instruction and maintain sports and activities. Thank you for your continued support and patience through his pandemic. Respectfully, Laura Kagy

The 7th Grade boys basketball game this evening at Buckeye Central has been cancelled. However, the 8th Grade boys basketball game is still on and it will start at 5 p.m.