Good afternoon, Caleb Families. Last night, you all received communication from the Sac City Health Services Department, which I encourage you to read in its entirety in order to better understand our current public health situation. More than anything, it’s critical that we all remain calm and informed and practice good hygiene to prevent the spread of illness.

Students, employees and family members must stay home if they are sick. If someone is showing symptoms of cough, fever or shortness of breath, they must stay home from work and school until free of symptoms for at least 72 hours or until seven days from the start of symptoms, whichever is longer. Students and employees must also stay home for at least 48 hours after any GI-related illness, such as vomiting or diarrhea, has subsided. If your child returns to school before this window is complete, we will call you to pick them up from school and keep them home for the duration of the window.  

When you call or email to report an absence, it is critical that you provide detailed information about symptoms. If you are choosing to keep your child home as a safety precaution, please report that accurately as well so we can properly track illness-related absences. District absence policies have been relaxed during this time, so please be sure to communicate openly and accurately about your child’s absence.

Please check in with your child each morning to make sure they are healthy enough to come to school. Please also encourage your children to properly wash their hands (minimum of 20 seconds with soap and water each and every time), cough and sneeze into their elbows, avoid touching their face, and avoid people who are sick. And on top of that, drink lots of water, get plenty of rest and avoid sugary foods and drinks which compromise immune systems even in healthy bodies. 

In an effort to keep our children, staff and families healthy, Mrs. Fitzpatrick is creating a slideshow in lieu of Friday Sing on March 20, we are canceling the Family Dance on March 27, and our kinder field trip to Shriner’s Hospital next week has been canceled as well. Students will continue eating lunch outside, and in the event of rain, we will stagger lunches in order to reduce the number of students in the cafeteria at one time.  I will continue to keep you informed as more information and guidance becomes available. 

As I said in my call on Sunday, it’s critical that while we work to keep ourselves safe and healthy, we also unite as caring IB Learners against discrimination and harassment. This is also allergy season so we have many students and staff members who are suffering from seasonal allergies and may be sneezing, coughing and blowing their noses. This is not cause for them to stay home and it is also not cause for them to be harassed or told they don’t belong at school. Please continue to exercise our IB attribute Caring to ensure that all members of our community feel safe and welcomed all the time and please exercise good judgment and stay home when you’re sick. If you see or hear something that is concerning, please report it to a trusted adult who will know what steps to take. And please continue to take good care of yourselves.

At this time, our school does remain open and we look forward to continuing to serve your children in the coming days and weeks. 

Thank you and have a good evening,

Erin Hanson

Principal, Caleb Greenwood Elementary School

An International Baccalaureate Primary Years Program World School

Erin-Hanson@scusd.edu

916-395-4515