Reply to MCPS will now send kids home for ten days based on symptoms only

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[quote=Anonymous]From: MCCPTA President &lt;president@mccpta.org&gt;
Date: September 20, 2021 at 8:06:50 PM EDT
To: delegates@mccpta.groups.io, presidents@mccpta.groups.io, board@mccpta.groups.io
Subject: [MCCPTA Delegates] Quarantines/Test to Stay -- Latest and Next Actions
Reply-To: delegates@mccpta.groups.io, president@mccpta.org

Board, Presidents, Delegates –

Just a quick note.  With our friends at NAACP Parent Council, we are continuing to advocate for common sense adjustments to MCPS approaches.  Last week, we saw changes implemented at the County level related to MCPS quarantine policy and we expect MCPS will release a community communication regarding those changes.  This will hopefully provide more clarity around symptomatic rapid testing, random screening processes, and quarantine practices.  (And if it doesn’t, we’ll go back at it!)

Related -- today, the Maryland Department of Health (MDH) met with statewide Health Departments specifically to discuss “Test to Stay” (another yay!).  There are several folks working on pulling together a “Test to Stay” plan, modeled after Massachusetts.  MoCo has already begun identifying additional staffing to implement it. The goal is to launch the pilot and then scale up as the staffing issues get addressed (whether that’s through contract support, MCPS supplement, or both). MDH won’t stand in the way and did provide some suggestions on how to implement. From that meeting – “They have some concerns about sustaining the volume of rapid testing for both symptomatic students and test to stay as the winter months come, but nothing that would prevent our moving forward.”

RIGHT NOW -- WE STILL HAVE ISSUES WITH CLOSE CONTACT IDENTIFICATION – this is really concerning as we see whole classes (and sometimes grades) still being quarantined.  While the rapid testing in schools should alleviate some of this quarantine concern, we still need to improve the distancing.  Lots of folks continue to express concern about seemingly no distancing strategies being enacted.  Green School Subcommittee is working with lots of schools aiming to increase access to outdoor spaces.  There is still work to do in this area!

It's been a good week for community advocacy!  I’ll try to keep everyone posted as more unfolds and lots of MCCPTA folks moving a TON of priorities forward right now.  There is simply too much going on to “hold off” until the Delegates Assembly so watch for reports by end of weekend.

I certainly am looking forward to seeing you all on September 28th, 7-9pm!  Watch for zoom information, coming soon!

Be well,

Cynthia Simonson

MCCPTA President[/quote]

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