*Updated COVID-19 Guidance* - Jan. 31, 2022
The West Virginia Department of Education and the WV Bureau for Public Health updated the school recovery guidance on Jan. 31st, 2022.
Please find the full, updated guidance at: https://wvde.us/wp-content/upl.... Please note that this guidance may change at any time.
Morgan County Schools has a universal indoor mask policy and will follow the guidance provided for universal indoor mask policy districts.
Please note the following important updates:
With universal masking, effective now, only individuals with reported positive cases of COVID-19 and those experiencing symptoms need to quarantine. Exposures at school are no longer required to quarantine unless they experience symptoms.
Schools will no longer conduct contact tracing and parents will no longer receive exposure calls. Families should monitor students for symptoms daily. If students or staff are sick, they should stay home. COVID testing is available in the county should an individual wish to test. Students will no longer be quarantined due to possible exposure to COVID. This includes during breakfast, lunch, and extra-curricular activities. Possible exposure outside of school will not trigger a quarantine.
Athletes who are positive for COVID-19 are to remain in isolation for 5 full days. On day 5, the athlete may test and if that test is negative, they are able to return to unmasked play on day 6 or after. Without a test, an athlete may return to practice on day 6, but must remain masked at all times through day 10 and will not be allowed to participate in unmasked activities or games.
What has stayed the same:
MCS is still observing a universal masking policy in all of our buildings. This may be addressed in the future as cases go down.
For individuals who test positive for COVID, a five-day isolation is required. You may then return to work or school if symptoms are improving, you are fever-free for 24 hours, or you are asymptomatic.
Please contact the MCS Covid-19 Support Specialist, Angel Demarinis, to report a positive case or with any questions or concerns. She can be reached at 304-621-3275 (cell), 304-258-1500. Ext. 428 (school) or by email at ademarinis@k12.wv.us. She will let you know when the positive person may return. If a positive case is not reported, we are not able to properly code your child’s absence and the parent is responsible for providing a parent or doctor’s note upon return to school.
Parents are required to send an absence note to the school when your child returns explaining the reason for the absence. It is important to include details in all absence notes to allow the school to determine if any absence meets state law to be considered an excused absence. If you have questions about attendance, please contact your child’s school and they will assist you.
How do I find out what’s happening in my child’s school?
All MCS schools are now directly reporting positive cases to a new WV DHHR tracking survey every Monday which then appears here, typically on Tuesday afternoon -https://wvde.us/covid19/school.... This is where you will find the most robust information regarding school cases from the week before. Morgan County Schools will also post this data on our app and social media pages weekly.