November 29, 2021

Dear Stillwater Community,

I’d like to thank all who have responded to the information and consent forms that were sent home November 19th about the district’s Opt-in opportunity for in-school COVID-19 diagnostic and screening testing.

As a reminder, parents/guardians and staff may:

• choose to decline by not signing the consent form
• choose to participate in the screening test only
• choose to participate in the diagnostic test only
• choose to participate in both the screening and diagnostic tests

As we are just getting the new program underway, I’d like to remind everyone that if a student or staff member is sick, they should stay home and not come to school. We need to pilot the opt-in testing program within our school buildings first, before we can expand the ways we can offer tests. While the district expects to offer drive-up testing in the future, we are not able to provide that option at this time.

If a student or staff member has been tested for COVID-19, they should remain home until the test results are confirmed negative. If they are diagnosed as being COVID-19 positive, before returning to school, they must satisfy isolation protocols (typically 10 days) and have improving symptoms. They also must be fever-free for 24 hours without using fever-reducing medication, per the New York State Department of Health.

We will keep you informed of any changes to the opt-in testing program and other COVID-19 protocols. As always, if you have a question regarding COVID-19 symptoms or protocols, please reach out. Our COVID Team is here to help. If we do not have the answer, we will connect with the Department of Health to get it for you.

Thank you.

Sincerely,
Patricia Morris
Superintendent of Schools