Good afternoon Fort McMurray Catholic Schools families,
As you are most likely aware, late Tuesday afternoon the Government of Alberta announced an update on restrictions and guidance in the fight against COVID-19.
Fort McMurray Catholic Schools has now reviewed this announcement and received some clarification from Alberta Education, AHS and Alberta Health. We are now in a position to share some more details with you on how this will look in schools moving forward.
Please note updated guidance documents will be shared with School Divisions by the end of the week that may provide further clarity.
Masks
The province has announced masks for students will no longer be mandatory in schools beginning on February 14, 2022. Masks are still mandatory in schools this week. Fort McMurray Catholic Schools will continue to recommend mask use.
Masks will continue to be mandatory for all adults in our schools at this time. The Government of Alberta has indicated that this will be reviewed as we move forward.
We wish to highlight that the current isolation requirements have not changed. So, for instance, if a fully vaccinated student returns to school on day 6 of their isolation with no symptoms, they must be fully masked in school for the entirety of the day and continue to do so for their full isolation period.
Vaccination Requirements
There has been no change to the Administrative Procedure regarding vaccination requirements in our schools. This means unvaccinated volunteers would still need to provide proof of a negative test.
Virtual Transitions
There still may come a time when there is an operational need to move a class, grade, or school to off site learning for a short period of time. If this is required we will inform families as quickly as possible.
Visitors in Schools
Visitors would be welcome in school by appointment only.
Spectators at Sports
Spectators will be allowed to attend sports in school gymnasiums beginning next week (Monday February 14, 2022).
All spectators over the age of 12 must wear masks while attending extra curricular sporting events. This will continue to be reviewed as Alberta progresses throughout the steps of lessening restrictions.
There will be no food or drink allowed in school gymnasiums.
Contact Notifications
We wish to share with you an update on our contact notification process. Alberta Health and AHS ended this process at the start of 2022. Fort McMurray Catholic Schools chose to continue to share close contact notifications with families to be as transparent as possible. We wanted you to have the most clear data available regarding COVID-19 in schools. We trust this is giving you a clearer picture of this last wave in schools.
As the provincial government has further lessened COVID-19 restrictions, we will be discontinuing the contact notification process (daily email about cases in schools) on February 25, 2022.
Daily Checklist
The Alberta Health daily checklist will remain for the time being. We continue to remind families to monitor for any signs or symptoms of COVID-19 using the Alberta Health Screening Questionnaire.
God Bless,
Fort McMurray Catholic Schools