January 6, 2022
Dear Parents:
Happy New Year! We hope you had an enjoyable holiday season and Winter Break. As we prepare to return to school after the Winter Break on January 10, 2022, we wanted to share important information to keep you informed of what we are doing to continue to keep our students and staff safe.
For the health and safety of everyone, it is imperative that you keep your student home from school if they are not feeling well, have any cold, allergy or flu symptoms, have tested positive for COVID-19 or have been exposed to someone who has tested positive. Please do not send your child to school if they are sick or have been exposed to someone who has tested positive for COVID-19.
When we return to school, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health Department highly recommends that all students wear a medical-grade surgical mask or higher. These are daily disposable masks. We are equipped to provide these masks for our students should they arrive to school without one. Properly wearing a mask, covering the nose and mouth, is required at all times when indoors and now outdoors. The health order has expanded the requirement to include wearing a mask outdoors when not actively eating or drinking. Please let your child know that they are expected to wear their mask both indoors and outdoors.
We encourage our families to utilize the free COVID-19 testing that is available at the Rowland Unified School District Office and provided by COVID Clinic. Testing is available Monday – Friday from 11:30 a.m. - 6 p.m. You must pre-register for testing on the District’s website rowlandschools.org or CLICK HERE. This testing is exclusively for our District students, staff and families. Testing has become very high in demand and unfortunately we are experiencing long lines and wait times, resulting in us needing to close the line and stop taking individuals seeking testing prior to 6:00 p.m. It is recommended that you arrive early and anticipate the need to wait in line. We apologize for this inconvenience and continue to seek solutions to improve this free service to our families.
The California Department of Public Health, through Governor Newsom’s office, has shared they will be sending home COVID-19 test kits for students throughout the State. These test kits are being sent to our District and we anticipate they will arrive in the next two weeks. Once they arrive, we will provide you with information on how you can pick up a free test kit for your student. There is no mandate or requirement to test before returning to school, but families are encouraged to test as an added precaution.
Lastly, if you traveled during the break, per the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, students that are unvaccinated and travel internationally must quarantine for 10 days upon return from international travel or quarantine 7 days with a negative COVID-19 test taken 3-5 days after returning home and being symptom free.
If you have any questions regarding testing or quarantining, please email the RUSD COVID Response Team at [email protected].
Please help by ensuring your child is vaccinated (if applicable), testing for COVID-19 if they have been exposed or are presenting symptoms, and keeping them home if they are ill. We will continue to keep you updated and will work through this together to keep our students, staff and families safe.
With Gratitude,
Julie Mitchell, Ed.D.
Superintendent of Schools