Dear Belle Creek Family:
As of Wednesday, October 28 at 5:00 p.m., Adams County will move to Level 3 of Safer at Home based on an order from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment in response to the continued rise of COVID cases across Adams County. You can view the announcement on the Adams County website here. The complete updated order from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment can be viewed here.
In reference to schools, the order continues to list P-12 Schools on the Critical Businesses list
(Appendix A - Number 13) and states that schools can continue to provide in-person learning to students provided schools/school districts adhere to the following:
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Such institutions are required to work with state and local public health officials and follow case and outbreak guidance for schools when cases of COVID-19 are suspected or confirmed in students or staff to determine transmission mitigation strategies, isolation, quarantine, and shifting to remote learning.
Dr. John Douglas, Executive Director of Tri-County Health, spoke directly about schools during an emergency Zoom call on Friday night called by Adams County and Tri-County Health officials. He praised the work of school districts, specifically citing the layers of protection and the low to no transmission of COVID-19 within schools. He stated he is committed to working with school districts to keep them open for in-person and hybrid learning provided school districts do the following:
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Continue to be absolutely diligent in following our layers of protection.
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Continue to collaborate with Tri-County in quarantining impacted classrooms/cohorts and contact tracing.
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Continue to monitor school district data, community data, and school transmissions and be responsive to this data.
Currently, Belle Creek Charter School is planning to continue our current learning platforms and will continue to do so unless otherwise notified by Tri-County Health and the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment through future public health orders. If this should occur, we will do our best to communicate information quickly should a shift be required.
In the meantime, we will continue to follow the same four drivers that we started our planning within July:
* We will continue to Ensure, to the greatest extent possible, the safety of our students, staff, and community.
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We have the first quarter behind us. Our Layers of Protection are working. To date, we have little to no transmission of COVID-19 from student to student, student to staff, or staff to staff within the school setting when the protocols are followed with fidelity. This has been a team effort! Thank you students, families, and staff for your extraordinary efforts!
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An additional layer of protection for our students, families, and staff includes that our most vulnerable students and staff members selected and were assigned an online-only platform.
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* We will continue to ensure that our mission of preparing every student for tomorrow - academically, socially emotionally, healthily is carried out.
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Regardless of the learning platform, we can all continue to be incredibly humbled and proud of our commitment to do the best we can together for our students, familles, and one another as well as our work to be better each day than we were the one before.
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* We will continue to ensure, to the greatest extent possible, predictability and sustainability for our students.
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Our planning approach to this context has allowed us to open in the fall and keep our schools open. At this point, nearly every school has had an experience with quarantining a cohort or classroom of students for a few days or the full 14 days. That being said, the vast majority of students attending in person (96%+ during any given week during the first quarter) have been able to come to school on the days they are scheduled to.
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* We will continue to provide parents the choice to enroll students in an in-person or online only learning model.
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As you know, we provided this when others around us did not. It’s important. We exist to serve our students and families.
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The transmission rates within the larger Adams County are increasing, and yet we can be proud that we are not seeing transmissions happening within Belle Creek. Our layers of protection are working. Our collaboration with Tri-County is working. Our contact tracing and quarantining is working. Our vigilance to these protections remains key, and we will continue to pay close attention to our neighborhood and school data. These are the efforts that allow us to stay open, stay safe, and serve students in person. We thank you for doing your part as well.
The Belle Creek Charter School Administrative Team