District 303 views COVID-19 mitigation measures as way to keep students in school

St. Charles Unit District 303 officials hope the COVID-19 mitigation measures that the district has put in place will help keep students in school.

The district's mitigation measures were discussed Thursday during a special school board meeting. Those measures include following Gov. JB Pritzker's executive order mandating that masks be worn indoors in schools regardless of vaccination status. Before the governor's executive order, school board members had voted unanimously to make masks optional for the new school year.

In addition, the district is following physical distancing guidelines. Students and staff are spaced at least three feet apart in indoor classroom settings and six feet apart while eating.

"As a district, we decided that both in our classrooms and in our cafeterias, we are keeping the appropriate social distancing," Superintendent Jason Pearson told board members. "It is one of our mitigation strategies which allows us to avoid students being identified as a close contact."

Close contact is considered anyone who was within six feet of an infected person for a total of 15 minutes or more over 24 hours.

"If a student is fully vaccinated, or a staff member for that matter, and they are identified as a close contact, they do not have to quarantine as long as they remain symptom-free," Pearson said. "So that's one path to not having to quarantine. We understand those are choices that families are making and staff members are making about whether or not to be vaccinated."

Pearson said another path to avoid quarantine being enrolled in the SHIELD testing program. The district is contracting with the University of Illinois SHIELD to conduct weekly screening tests. The test is a PCR saliva test and unvaccinated students will have an option to participate in screening testing along with unvaccinated staff.

As Pearson noted, there is now a test to stay protocol.

"What test to stay allows students to do is if they are identified as a close contact, they have to test on I believe it's day one, three, five and seven," he said. "They can continue to attend school as long as they have negative tests ... We feel like the layered mitigation strategies that you've supported combined with the test to stay program really provides opportunity for people to be able to stay at school if they are not individually impacted by a COVID infection."