decision-making matrix

What do I do if...

The wellness tracker says my child is safe to go in but I feel they are not well?

The wellness tracker says to keep my child home but I think my child is fine?

You should

Keep your child and siblings home. Contact your pediatrician and email bznurse@ or studentwellness@. BZ will likely require a standard PCR test for clearance unless cause is unambiguous.

The school will

Welcome the student if they are given clearance or confirm the student’s absence.

Teachers will

Monitor the student throughout the day and alert Nurse if necessary. If the student is sent home the teacher will be prepared to support the student upon their return.

My child has a fever of 100.4 or higher but I believe it is due to something other than COVID-19

You should

Keep your child and siblings home. Contact your pediatrician and email bznurse@ or studentwellness@. BZ will likely require a standard PCR test for clearance unless cause is unambiguous.

The school will

Communicate with the student and family regarding when student and siblings will return. Division Head and teacher will reach out to keep the student up to date on classwork.

Teachers will

The teacher will be prepared to support the student upon their return.

My child has no symptoms, but a household member with no symptoms has been asked to isolate due to close contact with a COVID patient

You should

Contact BZ Nurse or studentwellness@
bernardzell.org to discuss your quarantine options and see if Test-to-Stay is an option. You should be prepared for your student to stay home for up to 14 days.

The school will

BZ Nurse will confirm a quarantine plan and return date, and Division Heads will communicate with the student and family to keep the student up to date on classwork.

Teachers will

Continue with in-person learning.

My child has no symptoms but has been informed they were in close contact with a positive case (not due to cohort closure)

You should

Student should stay home for 14 days after exposure. Monitor your child for symptoms, and seek testing 5-9 days after the potential exposure. Notify school of status and if symptoms or testing confirm a diagnosis.

The school will

BZ Nurse will confirm a return date, and Division Heads will communicate with the student and family to keep the student up to date on classwork.

Teachers will

Prepare for Extended Absence Remote Learning.

My child has no symptoms, but their cohort has been asked to stay home for 14 days

You should

Monitor your child for symptoms, and seek testing 5-9 days after a potential exposure. Notify school immediately if symptoms or testing confirm a diagnosis.

The school will

Cohort will shift into distance learning.

Teachers will

Distance learning will begin to maintain instruction.

My child has no symptoms but a household member is exhibiting symptoms that I suspect are COVID-19

You should

Student may not go to school. Suspected case should seek testing and self-isolate within the home. Household should seek testing 5-9 days after the exposure. Student may be cleared by pediatrician to return if the adult household member tests negative.

The school will

Communicate with the student and family on a return date and to keep the student up to date on classwork.

Teachers will

Prepare for Extended Absence Considerations.

My child has no symptoms, but another household member has a confirmed diagnosis

You should

Student should stay home; if possible, have affected family member self-isolate within the home. Test your child 5-9 days after exposure and keep at home until results are in. The student will likely need to stay at home for 14 days AFTER the household member clears quarantine, if the affected family member is unable to self-isolate.

The school will

Communicate with the student and family to keep the student up to date on classwork.

Teachers will

Prepare for Extended Absence Considerations.

My child is showing COVID symptoms, and an adult at home has a suspected or confirmed diagnosis

You should

Test your child and keep at home until results are in. Student should be tested, and will need to stay at home for 10 days after the onset of symptoms, and 24 hours with no fever and improvement of symptoms, or be cleared by a physician to return to school.

The school will

If the student tests positive and was at school 48 hours before becoming symptomatic, cohort will prepare to stay home for 14 days after exposure but may return if the student tests negative. Grade may need to move to remote learning if teachers are asked to quarantine. Grade may shut down one day for cleaning.

Siblings of students in the classroom are considered secondary exposures (very low risk) if no close contact occurred. They may stay home initially but may be cleared to return if primary exposure tests negative.

If a teacher has been in close contact with the diagnosed student, their own children may come to school but separation within the home is recommended.

Teachers will

If cohort is home, implement Distance Learning plans.

My child has a confirmed diagnosis

You should

Keep your child at home for at least 10 days after onset of symptoms, and at least 24 hours without fever. Speak with your physician if you have any questions about returning to school.

Children and teachers who had close contact with that child should consider getting tested 5-7 days after exposure.

The school will

Cohort will prepare to stay home for 14 days after exposure. Grade may need to move to remote learning if teachers are asked to quarantine. Grade may shut down one day for cleaning.

Siblings of students in the classroom are considered secondary exposures (very low risk) if no close contact occurred.

Teachers will

Implement distance learning plans at cohort level.

A teacher has a suspected diagnosis

You should

Teacher must stay home until diagnosed and teacher’s children should stay home as well.

The school will

Cohort will remain in school until a positive diagnosis is obtained or COVID suspicion is high, at which point the cohort, and possibly grade depending on exposure, will stay home for a minimum of 14 days following exposure.

Teachers will

Implement distance learning plans at cohort level if applicable.

Teacher has a confirmed case

You should

Teacher must stay home, and teacher’s children should stay home as well.

The school will

Cohort, and possibly grade depending on exposure, will stay home for a minimum of 14 days.

Siblings of students in the classroom are considered secondary exposures (very low risk).

Deep cleaning undertaken.

Teachers will

Prepare for Extended Absence Considerations.

Emerging health conditions are such that the campus is not deemed safe for continued operations or our academic goals cannot be met in-person

Bernard Zell continuously monitors multiple indicators in determining when and how to continue in-person. These indicators may be based on absenteeism rates (25%), simultaneous cases of confirmed on-campus transmission (2+), incidence rates and community positivity over 5% and rising over multiple data sets: Illinois, city of Chicago, and zip codes that comprise 80% of BZ families. These indicators taken together, along with the City's and State's public health guidance are used to determine how to move forward safely.

The school will

School will re-evaluate its current plans and determine whether a hybrid model or distance learning for specific divisions or the whole school mitigates risk. Distance learning would likely prevail for a minimum of 2 weeks (this may be revised per State or city guidelines).

Teachers will

Implement distance learning plans.

State or local government mandates school closure

It is important to note the following:

While Bernard Zell has done everything possible to eliminate risk, no environment can be totally risk-free. Please click here to read our notice of risk of in-person instruction.
CDC, Illinois Department of Public Health, and Chicago Department of Public Health update their guidance very frequently. BZ will update its own guidance accordingly and seek to provide clarification when guidance conflicts or is ambiguous.
A wellness tracker will provide guidance around staying at home, but it does not diagnose COVID-19.
Cold symptoms and COVID-19 symptoms in children are extremely similar. Because of this, a wellness tracker is as likely to flag a student with multiple cold symptoms and allergies as COVID-19. We ask that parents and faculty exercise an abundance of caution and keep both the student and siblings home, and contact your physician.
The Chicago Department of Public Health now recommends that all symptomatic students be tested for COVID-19.
A rapid test is not considered sufficient to return the student to school, and we ask that students wait to return pending a standard molecular PCR test.
Faculty and parents will be informed if they or their student has had a close contact with someone with a confirmed or suspected diagnosis of COVID-19 -- this is defined as a primary exposure. We do not report to families if your child has had a secondary exposure, i.e., that they have been in contact with someone who has had a primary exposure, but is not a suspected or diagnosed case of COVID-19. We will inform the school broadly when we have a case, but no specific identifying information will be provided.
Close contact is defined by the CDC as an encounter within 6’ feet for more than 15 minutes cumulatively, starting from 48 hours before symptom onset or specimen collection of a confirmed diagnosis. Direct contact (such as being sneezed on) may also qualify as close contact even if the encounter was less than 15 minutes. Please visit cdc.gov and Illinois State Board of Education for more information on what qualifies as close contact.
- Close contact definitions have been modified for schools where there is consistent masking.
- For students in the indoor classroom setting, contacts who were within 3 to 6 feet of an infected student do not require quarantine as long as both the case and the contact were consistently masked. If they were not consistently masked, then close contacts are classroom students who were within 6 feet of the infected student for a cumulative total of 15 minutes or more over a 24-hour period.
- In general, individuals who are solely exposed to a confirmed case while outdoors should not be considered close contacts.
It is important to note then that in some divisions, students and faculty in a cohort may not always meet the definition of close contact (primary exposure) if consistent masking and social distancing is maintained. Per ISBE/IDPH guidance, if someone in the cohort tests positive, only students or faculty who were not consistently masked within 3 feet for more than 15 minutes need to isolate.
Self-isolation for a contact of a contact (e.g., siblings or family members) is not required nor recommended by IDPH, CDPH, or the CDC. We ask that an exposed student isolate within the home; e.g., not share utensils, wear masks even in the home if 6' distancing is not possible, and have a dedicated bathroom and bedroom. We will be asking siblings to stay home if these isolation guidelines cannot be maintained.
- The BZ Nurse can also evaluate close contacts to determine if they are eligible for modified quarantine or test-to-stay options.
We strongly recommend that anyone who has had a primary exposure be tested 5-9 days after that exposure for COVID-19. Testing before that 5-9 day window may result in a false negative. Testing will not, however, release a student from quarantine.
Always contact your family physician to let them know if you have sought testing and, if returning after a positive diagnosis, confirm your ability to return to school.

For further guidance, please review IDPH’s guidance on close contact and isolation as well as IDPH/ISBE Exclusion Decision Tree.

NOTICE OF RISK OF IN-PERSON INSTRUCTION

NOTICE OF RISK OF IN-PERSON INSTRUCTION

As we look ahead to the 2021-22 School Year at Bernard Zell Anshe Emet Day School, we recognize that we operate in an environment of uncertainty. Although the school would not be able to open without the State of Illinois and City of Chicago having reached specific reopening benchmarks, the community transmission of COVID-19 within Chicago continues. Similarly, the decision by the Illinois Department of Public Health and the Chicago Department of Public Health to allow schools to reopen for all families at facilities that follow required safety rules does not mean that attending school is free of risk. Enrolling a child in school could increase the risk of the child becoming infected with COVID-19. The health impacts of COVID-19 are still not fully known or understood, although it is known that there are potentially serious health concerns, including possible fatality.

Each parent or guardian must determine for themselves if they are willing to take the risk of enrolling their child, including whether they need to take additional precautions to protect the health of their child and others in the household. Parents and guardians may want to discuss these risks and their concerns with their pediatrician or other health care provider or to consult such sources as the Center for Disease Control.

Back to Student Wellness

decision-making matrix

It is important to note the following:

While Bernard Zell has done everything possible to eliminate risk, no environment can be totally risk-free. Please click here to read our notice of risk of in-person instruction.

CDC, Illinois Department of Public Health, and Chicago Department of Public Health update their guidance very frequently. BZ will update its own guidance accordingly and seek to provide clarification when guidance conflicts or is ambiguous.

A wellness tracker will provide guidance around staying at home, but it does not diagnose COVID-19.

The Chicago Department of Public Health now recommends that all symptomatic students be tested for COVID-19.

A rapid test is not considered sufficient to return the student to school, and we ask that students wait to return pending a standard molecular PCR test.

Close contact definitions have been modified for schools where there is consistent masking.

In general, individuals who are solely exposed to a confirmed case while outdoors should not be considered close contacts.

The BZ Nurse can also evaluate close contacts to determine if they are eligible for modified quarantine or test-to-stay options.

We strongly recommend that anyone who has had a primary exposure be tested 5-9 days after that exposure for COVID-19. Testing before that 5-9 day window may result in a false negative. Testing will not, however, release a student from quarantine.

Always contact your family physician to let them know if you have sought testing and, if returning after a positive diagnosis, confirm your ability to return to school.

For further guidance, please review IDPH’s guidance on close contact and isolation as well as IDPH/ISBE Exclusion Decision Tree.