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St. Vrain students may shift to be more remote than before

On Nov. 4, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) moved Boulder to level Orange, "Safer at Home - High Risk." Since the announcement, various organizations, including school districts, have been scrambling to react.

Boulder Valley School District announced that all students will be remote as of Nov. 17, as has the University of Colorado Boulder. However, while St. Vrain Valley School District Superintendent Don Haddad said that switching to remote learning is a possibility, there has not been an official shift yet. On Nov. 6, SVVSD schools announced that hybrid-students would be able to switch to remote learning.

Niwot High School principal Eric Rauschkolb informed parents that starting Nov. 9, hybrid families can opt-out of in-person learning at any point through the end of the semester. If a student does opt out, the expectation is for the student to continue to attend classes fully online, similar to the beginning of the school year.

Haddad and the board will be holding a special meeting on the 18th and will feature Boulder County Public Health's (BCPH) Executive Director Jeff Zayach to further discuss hybrid and remote options. This is, in part, due to the fact that many health experts have stated that some form of in-person learning benefits students both academically, but also in regard to social and emotional well-being.

But with this new orange status, the district can no longer follow CDPHE's targeted quarantine guidelines. Instead, the standard quarantine guidelines are in place, which will likely lead to higher numbers of quarantines.

But, a district-wide update said, "It is important to note that a quarantine does not mean a person is sick, nor is it an indicator of confirmed COVID-19 spread in the community, rather it is a precautionary measure when there is suspected exposure to a potential or confirmed case of COVID-19."

According to the district dashboard, which is updated each weekday by 8:30 a.m., there are currently 1,922 students and 144 teachers/staff members quarantined. Additionally, there are 74 active, confirmed-positive cases of COVID among students and 20 among teachers/staff. The breakdown for schools in the Niwot feeder-system can be found in the infographic.

 

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