Week EIGHT is behind us and we are heading into the hopefully cooler Fall months.  As the weather changes, some school-related topics will also change, and some will stay the same. 

As the number of COVID-19 cases in our community decrease, we recognize that parents are eager for our protocols to change. COVID-19 is discussed every single day in the Clinic. I am regularly communicating with medical professionals in our area who have a vested interest in the well-being and overall health of every person on our campus. We too are looking forward to a return to “normal” days. We will proceed cautiously in order to protect all Trinity students, faculty, and staff and extended family members. Some of our protocols will be relaxed in the coming days and weeks, following guidance from the CDC, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Leon County Health Department, and local medical experts who are in the trenches every day taking care of Tallahassee citizens.

Beginning Monday, October 4^th, we will no longer be performing temperature checks at morning drop-off. We expect that students who are not feeling well in the morning will be kept at home. Students may not be medicated in the morning in order to make it through the day at school. Any student who complains of feeling ill after arriving on campus will be assessed by the Nurse, and a parent will be called to pick the child up if the assessment reveals potential illness. Please do not send a sick child to school.

We will also be adjusting our quarantine protocols to decrease the numbers of students missing class because of possible exposures to classmates who have tested positive. In the event a student tests positive, immediate contact tracing by the Nurse will determine which students are considered close contacts of the positive student.  Please see our updated COVID-19 Decision Tree on our website.

During the last week of October, we will revisit the above protocols to determine if the decreasing numbers of positive COVID-19 cases in Leon County and the availability of a vaccine for children ages 5-11 will warrant loosening the remaining safety protocols even further. We are very hopeful that the current downward trends continue.  Every decision we make at Trinity Catholic School is based on science and peer-reviewed studies that guide us in keeping the entire Trinity community safe and healthy. We are blessed and grateful to have the support of local physicians, our Pastor, and our Bishop.

All information in this letter and on our COVID-19 Decision Tree is based on guidance from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).