Health & Wellness

Student & Staff Health Screening

Health Screening and Certification Procedures

The health and well-being of staff and students is a high priority. As required by the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) in their return to school guidance, all staff will be required to screen themselves daily at home before reporting to work. Symptoms to be assessed on a daily basis include the following:

• Conducting a temperature check (temperature of 100.4 degrees or higher is considered a COVID-related symptom)
• Checking for any new COVID-related symptoms (symptom list is below and is subject to change based on Illinois Department of Health and CDC guidelines)

All staff and students will be issued a blue “Screening Pass” and can attach them to the lanyard the district will be providing. All staff and students who PASS the daily health screening at home must ensure that they have their blue District health screening pass in order to report to school. Should staff or students forget their health screening pass, they will be screened upon arrival to school prior to being permitted in the building. 

Should any staff or student FAIL the daily health screening (either at home or at school), they will not be permitted to attend in-person school. Staff members should contact their immediate supervisor to communicate symptoms (if the screening is failed at home) for further guidance. Building nurses/administrators will provide further guidance related to any exclusion from school as per the following expectations.

• The district expects all students and staff to complete the self-certification process before attending school or attempting to ride a school bus. Additionally, the district expects parents to only send students to the school and/or bus stop knowing their child(ren) are well and able to attend school.

• If an elementary-aged student approaches the bus without the self-certifying health card, the driver will let the supervising parent know that the child may not board the bus without this document. However, if the elementary-aged child is without a supervising adult, the bus driver will place the child in a designated area of the bus and notify the building administrator so that the child may be properly screened once arriving to school.

The Lake County Health Department has adopted guidance related to schools sending home or denying entry to students and/or staff if ANY of the following symptoms are present: 

Staff and students who display symptoms (either at school or at home) will be required to quarantine for a minimum period of 10 days from the onset of symptoms and for 24 hours with no fever (without taking fever-reducing medications) and improvement of other symptoms OR a physician’s note indicating the individual may return to school. Additionally, schools must also move all students/staff from that classroom to a different classroom so that the contaminated classroom may be cleaned.

Please note, a return to school may occur in fewer than 10 days if one of the following is received and confirmed by the school nurse:

• Verified medical documentation, stating an alternate diagnosis for symptoms and no clinical suspicion for COVID
• Documentation of a negative COVID-19 PCR test or rapid antigen tests (antigen tests only for use in cases where someone is NOT a confirmed close contact to a positive case)
• Documentation of a previous positive COVID-19 test, indicating recovery within the last three months from testing date. 

Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) Guidance

To view the Illinois Department of Public Health decision tree for Pre-K-12 schools, please visit the IDPH website by clicking here.

Lake County Health Department (LCHD) Guidance

The Lake County Health Department has recently updated its COVID dashboard to include a Risk Stratification Model based on the CDC Recommendations for Schools. This model is grounded in using mitigation strategies during times of high, moderate, and low community spread to support in-person learning access for students.

NOTE:  A return from remote learning to in-person learning will be a result of a continued decline in county/zip code/district data and/or numbers reaching below the indicated thresholds represented within this chart over a 7-day period.

Click here to visit the Northwestern Zipcode COVID-Dashboard

Click here to visit the IDPH County & School Metric COVID-Dashboard

Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)

All staff and students will be provided one mask, and all staff will also be offered a face shield (State purchased) to start the school year (additional PPE, such as gloves or gowns, will be provided for those staff supporting certain individual student needs). While the face shield is not required, the mask is a requirement for all staff and students. Staff and students may also elect to wear their own mask; however, all masks must be made from common materials, such as sheets made of tightly woven cotton. Cloth masks should include multiple layers of fabric (recommendations come directly from Mayo Clinic).

Furthermore, a face covering can include a multi-layer paper or disposable mask, cloth mask, or a religious face covering. The face covering must cover the mouth and nose completely. The covering should not be overly tight or restrictive and should feel comfortable to wear.

Face coverings that are not allowed include masks that incorporate a valve that is designed to facilitate easy exhaling, mesh masks, or masks with openings, holes, visible gaps in the design or material, or vents. These are not considered adequate face coverings because they may allow droplets to be released from the mask.  Additionally, neck gaiters are not allowed as the CDC does not recommend their use  at this time.  As stated on their website, “Evaluation of these face covers is on-going but effectiveness is unknown at this time" (click here to visit the CDC webpage on "How to Select, Wear, and Clean Your Mask").  

Staff may choose to wear scrubs as additional PPE if they wish; however, this is not something mandatory and will not be provided by the district.

The health and safety of all of our staff is important to us.  These procedures and guidelines have been developed in accordance with current Restore Illinois guidance and may change based on directives from the state, health department, and/or ISBE.

Protocols for Staff and/or Students when Symptoms Occur at School

Symptoms include:

The individual will immediately be isolated from others. Staff will communicate his/her illness with the building principal and leave the facility to go home.  For ill students, staff will contact the office immediately. The student will report to the designated “sick” area and wait for a parent to pick him/her up to go home.

The school nurse/building administrator will provide guidance that includes recommending the individual contact their health care provider and discuss testing. Students and staff presenting with symptoms will need a physician’s note to return to school before the 10 days lapse, or they will need to wait the 10 days before returning. All parents of symptomatic students must contact the school nurse before the student may return to school. All symptomatic staff members must contact the school administrator before returning to school.

Classrooms exposed to symptomatic individuals will be cleaned and sanitized prior to being reused. 

Information regarding the movement of a classroom or a confirmed case will be provided to those individuals (both students and staff) who are potentially affected by the move and/or positive case. Students or staff determined to be in close contact with a positive case will be excluded from school and must quarantine for a 14 day period of time, regardless of being tested or being asymptomatic.

Contact Tracing

• A review of the student/staff member’s schedule to determine which teaching staff may have come into contact with the positive case
• A review of seating charts in all spaces occupied by a student (in cases where a student tests positive)
• A review of bus seating charts to determine close contacts on transportation (in cases where a student tests positive)
• A discussion with students/staff members identified through contact tracing to confirm the level of contact with the positive case (NOTE: for younger students, the discussion is primarily with the classroom teacher and/or parent to confirm levels of contact)
• A discussion with families of positive student cases (as well as with staff members) to determine if there was any other contact outside of school activities with other District 95 staff or students
• Additional contact tracing efforts, as needed (depending on the unique circumstances surrounding a positive case)

Exclusion Guidance Summary