• Message to Families

    May 6, 2022

    Dear Lake Stevens School District employees, students and families,

    COVID-19 cases are continuing to rise in Snohomish County, and we are taking this opportunity to remind you to be cautious, and to remind our learning community about the ways we can protect ourselves and mitigate the spread of disease. Our County has moved from low risk to medium risk in the COVID-19 Community Levels outlined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  

    Now more than ever, it’s essential that we adhere to these important health guidelines:

    • Stay home when you are sick and watch for symptoms of COVID-19
      • Regularly test for COVID-19
        • We offer testing for our employees and students who were exposed at work/school
    • Maintain social distancing to the greatest extent possible
    • Continue to wash and sanitize your hands throughout the day

    These additional steps provide a greater level of protection against COVID-19:

    Please understand that Lake Stevens School District is not changing its practices or issuing any new requirements. We continue to adhere to statewide guidance from the Washington State Department of Health and the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction. 

    Your health and safety is of the utmost importance. We thank you in advance for remaining diligent in protecting our school district community.  

    Thank you,

    Lake Stevens School District

    March 10, 2022

    Dear Lake Stevens School District students and families,

    I’m reaching out to you today with updates to COVID-19 safety protocols in our district. Thank you for your patience and understanding as we awaited updated guidance from the Washington State Department of Health (DOH) and the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI).

    Protecting health and safety
    Now more than ever, it’s essential that our students and families adhere to these important health guidelines:

    • Stay home when you are sick and watch for symptoms of COVID-19
    • Maintain social distancing to the greatest extent possible
    • Continue to wash and sanitize your hands throughout the day

    What's changing?

    Indoor mask mandate 
    Beginning tomorrow at 11:59 p.m. the statewide indoor mask ban will be lifted. That means that masks will be optional on our school buses, and in our schools and district offices beginning Monday, March 14.

    Students, thank you for your diligence and perseverance to properly wear masks throughout the past two school years. Your efforts have directly impacted our local COVID-19 case counts, which are in steep decline.

    We understand that these changes may cause big feelings. We encourage all families to talk with their child about masks being optional beginning on Monday. Some families will decide they are done wearing masks all together, while others will continue wearing them. We will support you, no matter your decision. 

    We ask everyone to be kind, respectful and sensitive to the individual needs of every member of our school district community during this transition. Students, please tell an adult if you witness or experience mistreatment related to masking. This behavior will not be tolerated.
     
    It’s important to note that we don’t know if or when masks may be required again. As public health experts monitor COVID-19 in our community, the guidance may be updated in the future. We will continue to keep you updated if further changes are necessary.

    Required masking

    • If someone who was COVID-19 positive is returning to work, school or other public settings after a 5-day isolation period, they are required to wear a well-fitting mask for days 6-10 after their symptom onset or positive test result.
    • Masks are still required by staff and students in nurse/health rooms and isolation rooms, and will be provided to students as they enter the healthroom.

    Additional changes

    • Contact tracing for COVID-19 exposure will no longer be conducted by our school employees.
      • However, we are still required to report positive cases to the Snohomish Health District. If your child tests positive for COVID-19, please notify your school nurse.
      • We will continue to maintain our COVID-19 Tracker to show positive cases throughout the district.

    What’s still required?
    There continue to be a number of COVID-19 health and safety requirements from DOH. These include:

    Volunteers
    Volunteers are an essential part of our school district community, and we’ve missed having them in our buildings. We are in the process of updating our guidelines to begin allowing volunteers in our schools beginning Monday, April 11. Volunteers must be fully-vaccinated against COVID-19 or have an approved medical or religious exemption and adhere to required accommodations while in our schools, and interacting with our students. Please visit our district website for more information.
     
    We know how incredibly difficult this pandemic has been for our school district community, and we appreciate your efforts to protect the health and safety of our students and employees.

    Sincerely,

    Ken Collins, Ed.D.
    Superintendent
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