EOA Children's Services

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NEw covid-19 update as of February 22, 2022

Dear Parents/Guardians,

We appreciate your patience and understanding this school year as we continue navigating through the COVID-19 pandemic. We recognize the stressors of the pandemic have impacted everyone in some capacity.

EOA remains committed to maintaining a healthy and safe learning environment for your child. We continue to adapt our policies to match the environmental factors around us.  Washington County has demonstrated a downward trend in positive cases throughout our communities in February, so we are once again adjusting our COVID-19 Screening Questions and policies to minimize disruptions to EOA services.  The updated screening questions can be viewed below.

Beginning Monday, February 28, 2022, EOA child care centers will notify you anytime a child or staff member in your child’s classroom tests positive for COVID-19.  You will have the choice to continue sending your child to school or to keep your child at home for five days and watch for symptoms.  If you choose to self-quarantine, we will excuse your child for up to five school days.  

By continuing to provide services, we hope this will eliminate any additional burden on working families who are at risk of losing their employment due to mandatory classroom closures.  It will also provide parents with the option to keep their child at home if they have the ability to do so.  

Most importantly, EOA will continue to support you and your family to the best of our ability as we continue to monitor the safety of our children, families and staff.  Our mask policy will remain in effect, and you will continue to receive notifications regarding positive COVID-19 cases in your child’s classroom.  

If you have any questions, please speak with your Family Advocate or email info@eoaheadstart.org and someone will get back to you as soon as possible.

Child COVID-19 Screening Questions

(Health screening questions to be asked at time of drop-off each day)

1.  Has your child or anyone in your household tested positive for COVID-19? 

• If your enrolled child has tested positive, he/she must remain out of school for 10 days from the date that symptoms began. If another member of the household tested positive and cannot be isolated from your enrolled child, your child must also remain out of school for 10 days from the date of the positive test. Please notify your child’s Teacher or Family Advocate as soon as possible so that at-home instructional materials can be prepared and provided to encourage at-home learning.  It is recommended that anyone who tests positive for COVID-19 remain in isolation and members of your household self-quarantine during this time and consult with a medical provider should signs or symptoms of COVID-19 develop.  

2.   Have you or your child been in direct contact with someone outside of the home who is confirmed to  have COVID-19?  The CDC defines “close contact” as being approximately 6 feet from a person with COVID-19 for a total of 15 minutes or more.

• If yes, please monitor closely for all COVID-19 related signs and symptoms, listed below in Question 3. Those who are unvaccinated, including children under the age of 5 who are not yet eligible for a vaccination, will be excused from school if they choose to quarantine for 5 days. If symptoms occur, individuals should immediately quarantine until a negative test confirms symptoms are not attributable to COVID-19.

3.    Has your child experienced any of the following COVID-19 related signs or symptoms? These symptoms indicate a possible illness that may decrease the student’s ability to learn and also put them at risk for spreading illness to others (Temperature 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit or higher, sore throat, new uncontrolled cough that causes difficulty breathing (for students with chronic allergic/asthmatic cough, a change in their cough from baseline), diarrhea, vomiting, abdominal pain, or new onset of severe headache, especially with a fever)

• If yes, please notify your child’s Teacher or Family Advocate immediately.  If you answered NO to Questions 1-2 and you do not have reason to believe that your child has been exposed to COVID-19, your child will be excused from school in accordance with the existing school illness policy (until symptom-free for 48 hours without medications).   If additional signs or symptoms of COVID-19 develop, it is recommended that you consult with your child’s medical provider.  If a COVID test is administered to anyone in the household and the results are positive, your child should remain out of school for 10 days from the first onset of symptoms or from the date of the positive test of a household member.  If rapid test results are negative but the test is sent off to the lab for further testing, the child should remain at home until the secondary test results are received. At-home instructional materials will be prepared and provided to encourage at-home learning while your child is away from the center.

Notice to Parents:

• Children who develop symptoms or become sick during the day will be separated from their classmates and will need to be picked up immediately.

• Students or family members diagnosed with COVID-19 should stay home, isolate themselves from others, monitor their health, and follow directions from their state or local health department. Questions regarding return to school should be jointly decided in consultation with parents or caregivers, school personnel, and the student’s healthcare provider.
  
  

• If your child has been in close contact with a staff member or classmate who tests positive for COVID-19, EOA Children’s Services will notify you as soon as possible.  If you choose for your child to quarantine, he/she will be excused from school for up to 5 days from the date of exposure.  If you choose to send your child to school, he/she must remain symptom free.  As mentioned above, children who develop symptoms or become sick during the day will be separated from their classmates and will need to be picked up immediately.
  
  

• In order to prevent further spread of COVID-19, universal masking is required for all individuals 2 years of age and older when:

  • 1. 1. Indoors in a setting when Head Start services are provided.

       2. Outdoors in crowded settings or during activities that involve sustained close contact with other people. Being outdoors with children inherently includes sustained close contact for the purposes of caring for and supervising children.
          
          

  • Exceptions to the mask policy are permitted only when:

1. Children and adults are either eating or drinking.

2. Children are napping.

3. The narrow subset of individuals who cannot safely wear a mask because of a disability as defined by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), consistent with U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidance on disability exemptions.

4. When a child's health care provider advises an alternative face covering to accommodate the child's special health care needs.

Questions?  Contact us at applications@eoawc.org