• Review the home health checklist for symptoms
• Stay home and get tested at one of the City of Boston’s free test sites
• If you’re already in school, students can see the school nurse for a rapid test (if consent has been provided)

• If you are confirmed positive for COVID you should isolate for 10 days
• A parent/guardian/caregiver needs to report a positive case to the school by calling the main office

The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) has mandated that all districts hold full-time in-person learning for all students, stating: “As a reminder, all health and safety requirements issued by DESE from the previous school year have been lifted, and all schools are required to be in-person full-time, five days per week.”

There are exceptions for students whose doctors say they cannot safely study in school buildings. DESE has outlined that process here in an FAQ and here, including medical forms. Here is a summary from BPS.

As a reminder, DESE requires all students six and older to be registered and attending school full time.

• Parents/guardians must report the COVID-19 positive diagnosis to the school nurse or designee 
• Students who are confirmed as positive for COVID-19 must follow public health guidelines and isolate for at least 10 days, returning to school only after they are without fever for 24 hours (without fever-reducing medication) and not experiencing any other symptoms
• Students who are in quarantine as a result of a confirmed positive case will access tutoring during their time at home provided by BPS educators and an external partner if they are feeling well enough to participate
• Healthcare IT (or BPS Contact Tracers) will call individuals who are identified as a close contact of the confirmed positive case and advise on the next steps
• Having a confirmed positive case of COVID in a school does not mean the school is unsafe or that students or staff should stop coming to the building
• Public health officials will make decisions about quarantining students/staff when it is the safest action to take to reduce the spread and protect the health of the school community

• A message will be sent by the School Leader to all families and staff reporting a confirmed positive case in a school building 
• Sample letters are posted at the end of the Back to School guide on the BPS website
• BPS is reporting all positive cases, in total and by school or building, on a public dashboard at www.bostonpublicschools.org/coviddashboard

• Students who are a confirmed as a close contact after exposure within a BPS school building or BPS sponsored activity can stay in school as part of DESE’s Test and Stay approach provided they do not have symptoms and test at the start of each day for up to seven days
• If a student does not participate in the Test and Stay program, they will be required to quarantine as directed by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health
• Those students will have access to optional online learning support for the quarantine period provided by BPS educators and an external partner
• Students who are a confirmed close contact after an exposure that occurs outside of a BPS school building or BPS sponsored activity are required to report this information to the school-based team and will be required to quarantine as directed by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health
• Those students will have access to optional online learning support for the quarantine period provided by BPS educators and an external partner

• BPHC, DESE, and Health Services will advise the Superintendent where a classroom or school would need to shift to remote learning. 

• Boston Public Schools has entered into a contract with a tutoring service that provides access to online programming 24 hours a day, seven days a week, free of charge to all families. Students K-12 now have access to 1:1 academic support. Students can get started today by clicking the @Paperlearning icon in Clever.
• BPS teachers will upload lesson plans into our online system so students can keep up with what is being presented in schools while they’re out of school buildings

Parent/Guardian responsibilities for reporting a student testing positive for COVID-19:

• Inform the school-based team of any COVID-19 related situation including, symptoms, absences, and scheduled testing
• Inform the school nurse of student positive COVID-19 test results and discuss the plan for quarantine of other children in the household if they are BPS students
• Inform the school nurse of the student’s close contact status outside of school
• Support BPS contact tracing if the student was in a BPS facility or BPS sponsored event during their infectious period
• The infectious period starts 2 days before symptoms begin or 2 days before the test is done if the person does not have symptoms and ends when the person completes the isolation period.

School-based Staff Member’s responsibilities within the BPS COVID-19 reporting process:

• All BPS staff members are required to report their positive COVID-19 test results to their direct supervisor and the Office of Human Capital
• Any BPS staff member that tests positive for COVID-19 will participate in BPS contact tracing if they were in a BPS facility or BPS sponsored event during the infectious period.
• The infectious period starts 2 days before symptoms begin or 2 days before the test is done if the person does not have symptoms and ends when the person completes the isolation period.
• Support families who report positive COVID test results to them by connecting families with the school nurse or school family liaison

School Leader’s responsibilities within the BPS COVID-19 reporting process:

• Encourage, support, and maintain open, honest communication about COVID-19 within the school community
• Support individuals who report positive COVID-19 test results to them by connecting them with the school nurse, school family liaison, or BPS Health Services as appropriate
• Share timely and appropriate communication regarding positive COVID-19 cases as directed by BPS Communications in collaboration with BPS Health Services and the Boston Public Health Commission.

School Nurse’s responsibilities within the BPS COVID-19 reporting process:

• Accept reports of positive COVID-19 from students and families
• Document relevant information in the student’s electronic health record 
• Follow up with the family throughout the isolation period as needed to support the transition back to school when appropriate.
• Report the appropriate information to BPS Health Services according to protocols to support contact tracing
• Act as a liaison between BPS Health Services and the school to support contact tracing efforts

BPS Health Services’ responsibilities within the BPS COVID-19 reporting process:

• BPS Health Services will work with the Boston Public Health Commission in response to all positive cases of COVID-19
• Perform contact tracing in collaboration with Boston Public Health Commission for all positive cases within BPS buildings 
• Inform the family of each student who is deemed a close contact (see the next question for definition) to share specific next steps to follow as directed by the Boston Public Health Commission
• BPS Health Services will provide a letter that the School Leader will send to the school community alerting them to the positive case and confirming that anyone who needs to take action as a close contact has been notified
• BPS will report COVID-19 positive case information on a weekly dashboard on its website

According to CDC guidelines, a close contact is defined as being within six feet of a confirmed positive individual for 15 minutes or more for a day (24-hour period). In general, close contacts should follow the testing and quarantine response protocols outlined above. 

However, certain close contacts are exempted from testing and quarantine response protocols, as noted below.

• No symptoms: fully vaccinated close contacts: individuals who are asymptomatic and fully vaccinated are not required to quarantine; testing is recommended after exposure
• Classroom close contacts: An individual exposed to a COVID-19 positive individual in the classroom while both individuals were masked, spaced at least 3 feet apart, and the close contact is asymptomatic. 
• Bus close contacts: Individuals on buses must be masked according to federal requirements. As such, asymptomatic individuals who are masked on buses when windows are open are not close contacts. 
• Close contacts who have had COVID-19 within the past 90 days: an individual who has been previously diagnosed with COVID-19 and then becomes a close contact of someone with COVID-19 is exempt from testing and quarantine response protocols if:
• The exposure occurred within 90 days of the onset of their illness AND
• The exposed individual is recovered and remains without COVID-19 symptoms.

According to guidelines released (click to download) by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education on August 20, 2021: “There are no physical distancing requirements in place this year, even during meals. However, we recommend that districts and schools encourage individuals to distance as feasible when masks are removed indoors during mealtimes. Schools are also encouraged to continue utilizing outdoor space for meals, as feasible.” Boston Public Schools is working with School Leaders to finalize their plans on a building by building basks.
 The planning includes a school-by-school review of the approach to lunch, a recommendation to have assigned seating during lunch to support contact tracing, and looking at spaces in addition to the cafeteria to encourage distancing while students are unmasked. School Leaders will communicate plans with their families.

Yes, based on the feedback from families and school leaders, BPS delivered 565 tents to schools for coverage during student meals. The tents will be with the schools through the first few months of the year while the weather outside is welcoming for outdoor eating.

Vaccines are strongly recommended for students who are 5 years old and up. BPS will offer onsite vaccinations this year. The City announced a vaccine mandate for all City staff. The City provides free vaccines, according to this website.

Due to personnel and privacy policies, we cannot report on the number of staff who have been vaccinated. However, employees are mandated to comply with either vaccination or weekly testing.

BPS will offer free, confidential testing in schools. BPS requires families to opt their students into the testing. Our clinical partners from CIC Health will offer testing.

Testing falls into 3 categories:

1. Routine COVID Pool testing - with the consent of families and staff members, schools will provide COVID-19 testing weekly for a sample of the population (the ‘pool’).  If there is a positive “pool” case, each individual sample from the positive pool will be tested with a follow-up test.
2. Testing for students experiencing symptoms of COVID-19 - any student who complains of any of the symptoms of COVID-19 will have access to a rapid test. Decisions on the next steps are based on the results of the test.
3. Test and Stay - introduced by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, Test and Stay allows individuals who are identified as a close contact of a confirmed positive case to stay in school with daily testing for up to 7 days if they do not have any symptoms. BPS’s testing clinical provider, CIC Health, will deploy a team to manage the daily tests for consented individuals. 

Consent forms are sent via Permission Click to the student's parent/guardian.

Yes. This program includes daily testing and masking at all times, including after-school activities and the bus.

Not at this time.

Communication with your child’s school nurse about illness is crucial so that nurses can help find a primary care clinic, support with follow-up with your child’s clinic, monitor illness trends in the school and community, and maximize the health and safety of all students and staff.

Similar to the City of Boston’s Attendance policy, absences related to quarantine or isolation will be treated as one absence instance and not 10 individual absences. Employees must apply for a leave of absence for any absence exceeding 5 consecutive days.

• Air purifiers have been installed in classrooms and other common spaces in schools that do not have HVAC systems. BPS is replacing the filters in all air purifiers in accordance to the recommendation of updating filters every six months. 
• BPS is updating the filters in HVAC systems in those buildings with those systems; these filters are MERV-13 or the highest available for that system.
• Windows in classrooms will be open at least 2 inches and be supplemented with fans and open doors as necessary.
• Indoor Air quality sensors are being installed across the district. These sensors will provide real-time reporting on the air quality in rooms which will be sent directly to the environmental team, who will deploy staff to schools to make any needed adjustments to promote better airflow and ventilation.

• BPS has purchased and installed 3,516 Indoor Air Quality sensors in 102 Schools, as of September 29. We will continue the installations until all schools are outfitted with the devices. 
• The sensors report information in real-time on key measures of air quality, as outlined below.
• The information is used to direct changes to the set-up in a classroom and is not an indication that the space is not safe, rather a note that additional work needs to be done to reach optimal air quality and ventilation.
• We are gathering data from the sensors and will begin public reporting in October.

All students and staff will wear masks while on BPS school buses. Buses will be stocked with disposable masks. Buses are cleaned once a day according to CDC guidelines. Windows on buses will be open to encourage airflow. Bus monitors will be provided to all students who require them as outlined in their Individualized Education Plans.  We are working to hire additional bus monitors to staff buses beyond those required for students with disabilities.

Schools will ensure that students with disabilities have the materials and the skills to ensure that they are safe.  This includes masks and any specialized PPE as needed, and skill-building lessons so that students understand the importance of mask-wearing and working towards tolerating mask-wearing.  Families of students with disabilities can communicate directly with their school to ensure the specific needs of students are met and that all directions provided in the student’s Individualized Education Plan are followed.

• Schools are supplied with disposable masks in sizes for students and staff. 
• Nurses will be provided with appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) in accordance with public health guidance.

Yes.

BPS-approved partners who work full-time in schools, including before- and after-school providers, will be permitted to attend in-person learning through an application process completed with School Leaders. In order to be approved to work in schools, partners will need to have a dedicated space in the school building, take on the cleaning of that space, sign in and out every day, provide proof of vaccination, and report all positive COVID-19 cases to the School Leader.