Dear Berman families, faculty, and staff,
As we move towards winter break, I’d like to take the opportunity to express my sincere gratitude to each of you for your ongoing commitment to keeping our community safe. I know it has not been easy and we often find ourselves making sacrifices and difficult decisions. While we are seeing Covid-19 cases in our community, through our weekly surveillance testing and your dedication, we have thankfully been able to respond swiftly to limit any in-school spread.
I’d like to share a couple of winter break updates and steps we are taking post-break.
Vaccine Update
I am encouraged to report that over 75% of our students, ages 5+, have uploaded their Covid-19 vaccine cards. The continuation of getting our school community vaccinated will be a huge step forward against this pandemic. We are strongly encouraging anyone eligible to receive their Covid-19 vaccine or booster.
If you have not done so already, please take a few moments to upload your child’s vaccine card to the Parent Portal. Having this data will help us make informed decisions with our Medical Task Force. If you have any questions on how to upload, please email tech@mjbha.org.
Post Winter Break and Surveillance Testing
At this time, our plan is to return to in-person learning post-winter break. However, information about the Omicron variant is developing rapidly and we may need to reevaluate over break. We will continue to monitor the situation and discuss with our task force if additional precautions should be taken. Students will bring home post-break materials just as a precaution.
Through our weekly surveillance testing, we have been able to identify positive cases in our school community and limit in-school spread. The students have adapted incredibly well to this weekly testing. Since winter break leads to activities outside of our normal routines, we have decided to add an additional surveillance screening when we return from break. Students and faculty will be tested on Monday, January 3, 2022 AND Wednesday, January 5, 2022.
If a student or faculty member will not be on campus during one or both of these testing days, they must provide a negative PCR test, taken within 24 hours of the test date, before returning to school.
Covid-19 Symptoms
As we return from break, we are asking that all Berman students, faculty, and staff (regardless of vaccination status) be extra vigilant of any Covid-19 symptoms.
From January 3 – January 7, we are asking community members to monitor for any ONE symptom. If you have any of the below symptoms, please do not come to campus until you speak with Nurse Miriam Kotek:
We will return to our regular symptoms monitoring on Monday, January 10.
Anyone with a known or suspected Covid exposure, regardless of vaccination status, must contact Nurse Miriam Kotek before coming to school.
I am grateful to the task force for their continued guidance, and to all of you for your cooperation. Please know, together, we can all keep our community safe and our children learning and thriving.
Sincerely,
Rabbi Dr. Yossi Kastan
Head of School
