April 9, 2021
This week, we welcomed back all students from spring break and returned to five days of in-person learning for families who chose this option. As educators, few things compare to the excitement that comes with reconnecting with our students — both online and in-person — and gearing up for a successful finish to the school year.
We have recently received an increased number of questions from families regarding current physical distancing guidelines and the procedures for contact tracing. I would like to take a moment to explain this again, as the guidelines are likely to continue to impact us throughout the school year. This information was shared at the March 22 Board of Education Special Meeting, which can be found at
this link.
As you may know from earlier communications, Geneva CUSD 304 is adhering to the recently updated “
Revised Public Health Guidance for Schools” by the Illinois Department of Public Health and the Illinois State Board of Education. These guidelines allow for 3 feet of physical distancing when other mitigation strategies are met. At the same time, these guidelines also require contact tracing protocols which define a “close contact” as anyone (with or without a face covering) who was within 6 feet of a confirmed case of COVID-19 (with or without a face covering) for a cumulative total of 15 minutes or more over each 24-hour period during the infectious period.
This may impact more individuals, as they are determined to be “close contacts” and quarantined for 14 days, and we will work to support students during this transition. While we understand that this may cause frustrations, as a school district we need to follow these guidelines in order to best ensure the safety of our school community. We will continue to follow these guidelines until informed otherwise by IDPH and the Kane County Health Department. Please visit our
FAQ page if you have additional questions.
Please take a moment to review our Back Together 304 Symptom Screening for Students procedures at this page. Please keep your child home and call your school’s attendance line if:
- Your child, or anyone in your household, has tested positive for COVID-19 and is currently in isolation, OR
- Your child is a close contact to a confirmed case has been told to quarantine, OR
- Your child, or anyone in your household, is awaiting results of a pending COVID-19 test, OR
- Your child, or anyone in the household, is experiencing a fever (100.4 F or higher without the use of fever-reducing medications), chills, new onset of moderate to severe headache, shortness of breath, new cough, sore throat, vomiting, diarrhea, new loss of sense of taste or smell, fatigue from unknown cause, muscle or body aches from unknown cause, OR
- Any household member has experienced the above COVID-like symptoms within the preceding ten days and has not been evaluated by a medical provider or been tested.
We continue to ask that everyone follow the latest public health guidance so we can continue to achieve our goals to serve students. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Dr. Kent Mutchler
Superintendent of Schools