Dear Parents and Staff Members,

As you know, COVID guidance from California Department of Public Health (CDPH) and Santa Clara County is changing quickly. Schools are in a delicate balance of following all the protocols that keep students and staff safe while maintaining an effective educational environment. We are grateful for your patience and understanding as we enact new guidelines that will likely change again soon.

First, a few clarifications.

Pooled testing: The number of our students participating in pooled testing is at 96% and rising. Just as a reminder, after a close contact with a positive case, pooled testing students will be allowed to stay in school and continue the on-campus testing schedule. For those not in the program, after a close contact we will inform them that they can’t return to school until they submit the Day 1 negative test or remain at school without a Day 5 negative test. Parents will have to acquire these tests on their own. There’s still time to opt-in for pooled testing and reduce a student's time out of school. Please contact your school office. 

Afterschool activities: In accordance with CDPH guidelines released on Jan. 12, 2022, exposed students who participate in testing may continue to take part in sports and extracurricular activities, unless they develop symptoms or test positive for COVID-19. Students who are not participating in pooled testing will be excluded from extracurricular activities until Day 8.

PCR tests vs. rapid antigen tests: PCR tests are sensitive and will pick up traces of the virus for an extended time. Rapid antigen tests show if someone is infectious now. The reason we rapid-antigen test individuals within a positive pool is to determine who (if anyone) is contagious. Those who have tested positive in the past 90 days should not participate in PCR (pooled) testing but should participate in rapid antigen testing to detect active virus. 

Highlights of new protocols effective Jan. 18

Here are the highlights of what will be new for us next week.

• Positive cases must isolate for at least 5 days. They may return on day 6 IF they test negative on a rapid antigen test on day 5 AND are fever free for 24 hours and symptoms have resolved or improved. If the positive case tests positive on Day 5, they must remain isolated until a negative antigen test is resulted or they reach the end of their 10 day isolation period.

• The results of rapid antigen tests done at home are now accepted. Here’s how to submit at-home test results to school.

• There are no required quarantines for vaccinated individuals who are close contacts, stay asymptomatic and participate in regular testing.

• Children who have less than two doses of the vaccine and were exposed at school may remain at school if they stay asymptomatic and participate in regular testing.

There are more details to communicate than fit in one letter.  Please click on https://mvwsd.org/returntolearn for more information. Specifically, please see this flowchart on what to do after school exposure to COVID/positive test. 

The next few weeks will continue to present challenges to our district, but I am confident in our community’s resilience and ability to work together to keep our schools a safe place to learn. 

Respectfully,

Ayindé Rudolph, Ed.D.

Superintendent