North Franklin School District Parents/Guardians,
\r\nWe have been notified that over the course of the last week seven students in our community have tested positive for COVID. Over the last two days we have completed our contact tracing work in cooperation with the Benton Franklin County Health District and we have not identified any close contacts within the schools resulting in transmission or concern for transmission due to the preventative measures already in place across the district. We are fortunate that we have had a limited number of positive cases among our students to date. We continue to ask that our parents/community continue to be careful and cautious when considering sending students to school with possible COVID related signs or symptoms. Daily, throughout the district, we continue to put maximum effort into prevention with strict adherence to our safety protocols.
\r\nIf you are following the news you understand that numbers across our state and nation continue to increase. While the numbers across Franklin County are high, our numbers in North Franklin County continue to be relatively low. The latest research has shown that schools are not considered high-risk for community or disease transmission. This is due to the fact that we control the variables including health screening, personal protective equipment, social distancing, masking, and safety procedures that allow us to continue doing our work safely without putting staff or students in danger.
\r\nIf you or your student have been exposed to a confirmed positive case while at school or in a school activity, you will be notified. It is important to note that we are required to follow privacy laws that will not allow us to disclose names of infected students or staff unless there is a medical reason for sharing that information. In response to many community requests, we are developing a district report card that will keep you updated on cases in our school district. We will report the cases by building, however, if the school building has a population that is less than 50 students and staff, we will report those numbers under the North Franklin School District in order to protect the medical privacy rights of students and staff. The COVID report card can be found at https://www.nfsd.org/o/nfsd/page/in-person-hybrid-learning-2020-21.
\r\nIf you have any questions don't hesitate to contact your individual school or our central office.