Dear Berman Community,
With our school year in full swing, I wanted to take this opportunity to reach out with a Covid-19 update. The health and safety of our community continues to be one of our top priorities, and we are working with our Medical Task Force to ensure these needs are met.
We hoped our school year would begin with a very different Covid-19 landscape. Unfortunately, we are seeing cases in our Berman community, including amongst vaccinated individuals. We are turning to our families to partner with us and recommit to our health and safety guidelines.
We are incredibly grateful to the families who have been contacting us and taking all the necessary actions when there are Covid symptoms in their household or post-exposure.
Testing Update
We are looking into implementing a surveillance testing program for our students and faculty. We will share more details as they become available.
When to Stay Home
Anyone with Covid symptoms, regardless of vaccination status and with or without a known exposure, must stay home. Symptoms include: At least one of the following: fever of 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit or higher, new onset cough, shortness of breath, or new loss of taste or sense of smell, OR at least two of the following: muscle aches, sore throat, headache, nausea or vomiting, diarrhea, chills, fatigue, and congestion or runny nose.
Anyone with a known or suspected Covid exposure, regardless of vaccination status, must contact Nurse Miriam Kotek before coming to school. Exposures include eating an indoor meal with someone who has known or suspected Covid.
Positive Cases
Families can access our Covid-19 dashboard (password: Cougars5781) for a snapshot of current cases impacting our Berman community. We do not notify the entire community when positive cases occur. If a student or staff member tests positive, we ask that you please respect the privacy of that person. We will notify close contacts and take necessary precautions while maintaining confidentiality during the contact tracing process in accordance with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).
As a reminder, we only accept PCR tests, not rapid tests.
If we hear of cases in our community, we will do our due diligence to follow up with the families as necessary.
Travel Guidelines
Our school travel guidelines are based on behaviors rather than location. Families should utilize the same risk mitigations while traveling that they do at home (masking indoors, avoiding large crowds, avoiding indoor dining, etc.). If your family had a Covid-exposure, or participated in a high risk activity, please contact Nurse Miriam Kotek before returning to school. If we hear of or observe unsafe behaviors, whether traveling or locally, we have the right to ask students to stay home.
Smachot Guidelines
We ask that you follow any current school guidelines when planning or attending smachot. This includes indoor masking and eating outdoors or distanced if you are not vaccinated. If we hear of or observe unsafe behaviors, we have the right to ask students to stay home.
As always, thank you for your continued partnership. Please reach out if you have any questions.
Chag Sameach!
Sincerely,
Rabbi Dr. Yossi Kastan Head of School
