Monday message 03.14.2022

Dear iLEAD Lancaster Families,

Effective tomorrow, Monday, March 14, learners and staff will not be required to wear masks indoors or outdoors. They may choose to continue wearing masks and we will continue to provide them as requested. As of last week, parents were no longer asked to submit to Daily Health Screening prior to dropping off learners for school.

Please continue to monitor your learners’ health, keeping them home and notifying the office of any symptoms or illnesses including those for COVID-19. We will continue to follow quarantine protocols for cases of close contact and positive COVID-19 test results.

Read on to review the update to the mask mandate that was recently emailed to families and staff.

Originally emailed March 2, 2022:

Today we participated in the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health’s official K-12 debriefing. We are writing to share news about the recent announcement concerning the mask mandate for California schools and the alignment of the California and LA County Department of Public Health with these new guidelines.

Citing the encouraging decline in Omicron cases, hospitalizations, and deaths since the start of this year, the Governor’s Office, the California Department of Public Health, and LA County Department of Public Health has shifted from required to strongly recommending indoor masking at childcare sites and TK-12 school on March 12, 2022. This means that starting on Monday, March 14, the State and County will no longer require indoor masking for either learners or staff regardless of vaccination status. The wearing of masks will become optional, unless you are a close contact masks will be required indoors and outdoors for 10 days from exposure. Until March 14, we ask that all learners continue to wear their masks while indoors in alignment with current regulations.

The Governor and both Health Departments were careful to emphasize that this change is not permanent and that more restrictive measures may be reinstated in the future if we confront another surge or a worrisome new variant. Nevertheless, we welcome today’s news as it comes as a confirmation that State officials believe we have reached a point where it is safe for learners and staff to remove their masks on March 14.

Since the start of the pandemic, iLEAD has implemented all requirements established by Federal, State, County, and CAL/OSHA agencies with regard to masking and other COVID mitigation strategies to keep schools open, and staff and learners healthy. The alignment of iLEAD schools with these protocols continues as we will revise our protocols to make indoor/outdoor masking optional beginning on Monday, March 14, 2022. Per our protocols, any learner or staff member wishing to continue to wear their mask may do so without fear of being harassed, shamed, or bullied for wearing a mask indoors or outdoors.

Thank you to our staff for their unending dedication to the learners during this time and for doing everything required to keep our schools open. We thank our learners for their willingness to follow the protocols, regardless of the numerous changes, in order to attend school and learn with their friends. Finally, we thank our families for supporting their children and the schools during this incredibly challenging time.

Sincerely,
Nykole Kent
Director, iLEAD Lancaster