Searsport ● Stockton Springs
Office of the Superintendent
6 Mortland Road
Searsport, ME 04974
January 4, 2022
Dear Families and Staff,
On December 30, 2021, the Maine CDC released a revised Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) with guidance for a school’s response to positive COVID infections within the school population.
Some of the key changes to the Maine CDC SOP are as follows:
- Anyone outdoors or on a bus is no longer considered a close contact.
- Maine CDC opens an outbreak investigation after at least 15% of students and staff are absent from school due to illness on any given day.
- The district is no longer required to submit names of close contacts to the state.
- The isolation period (for those who test positive) is now 5 days instead of 10 based upon either date of symptom onset or positive test.
- Because RSU 20 has a masking protocol in place, ANY staff or student who is considered a close contact will NOT have to be quarantined from school, even if the exposure took place at lunch, at an extracurricular, etc. At this time, the only people who will have to be kept out of school or extracurricular activities are those who test positive for COVID. This will keep students in school and involved in all their activities.
RSU 20 will continue to maintain universal masking and encourage participation in our pooled testing program. As always please complete a health pre-screening before getting on the bus or coming to school. If you are experiencing one or more of the symptoms of COVID please stay home.
The entire updated SOP can be found here: https://www.maine.gov/doe/
RSU 20 will continue to monitor recommendations provided by the Maine CDC and Maine Department of Education and will communicate changes.
Sincerely,
Chris Downing
Superintendent of Schools RSU 20