The superintendents leadership team met today and approved  the COVID quarantine  guidelines below for Anderson School District Five. These guidelines are based on the latest guidance  from DHEC to comply with South Carolina laws requiring schools to take measures to prevent the spread of disease in the  school and childcare populations by limiting the attendance of students and staff with contagious or infectious diseases at school and school activities.  Please communicate the below information to your parents and staff. The five day exclusion and five days with a mask takes effect immediately. Please be advised that staff and students are required to wear a mask for five days, if they exercise the option to return to school after five days.

Below are the key points of DHEC’s current recommendations:

If you test positive for COVID-19, you need to isolate regardless of your vaccination status:

·       Stay home and avoid in-person contact with others for at least 5 days.

·       If you have no symptoms after day 5, you can end isolation, but must wear a mask around others for 5 more days.

·       Parents must send a note that symptoms have improved and there has been no fever in the past 24 hours without using fever-reducing medication

If you were exposed to someone with COVID-19 (Quarantine):

Criteria for Close Contacts (Exposures)

There are two options for the quarantine period that schools may choose to apply as long as all conditions listed below are met.

1. Quarantine can end after Day 10 without testing and if no symptoms were reported during daily symptom monitoring.  Return to work/school on day 11.

2. Quarantine can end after Day 5 if a viral test is negative -AND- if no symptoms were reported during daily symptom monitoring.

a. The viral test must be collected no sooner than Day 4, and quarantine cannot be discontinued earlier than completion of Day 5.  Return to work/school on day 6.

b. A mask must be worn through day 10.

Do not miss out on purchasing a yearbook. Buy one now so that one is reserved for you. They will be sent home with your student in May. Direct Link for yearbook sales: http://jostensyearbooks.com?ref=A09882763

Parents/Guardians,

As we begin the 2021-2022 school year, I want to thank you for trusting us with your child’s education. We strive to provide a high-quality education in Anderson School District Five, but we all know that learning cannot take place unless a safe environment is provided. As such, we are going to continue taking extra precautionary steps to keep our students and staff safe during the ongoing pandemic.

While state law prohibits mask policies from being enforced in our educational facilities for students and staff, masks are recommended at parental discretion for students, and masks are being recommended for all non-vaccinated staff. Additionally, face coverings will be required for students and staff members inside each nurse’s area/healthcare station at each school. Lastly, visitors to our campuses will be asked to wear a mask upon entering the building. These steps are being taken to ensure we have as safe of a school as possible, and to lower the possibility of the district needing to close down schools for extended periods of time.

I encourage those who are not yet vaccinated to take that step so that our schools and our community can get one step closer to normalcy. In reality, all efforts fall short of simply getting the readily available vaccine. While we know challenges will present themselves throughout the upcoming school year, we are confident that our teachers, faculty and staff will respond to any and all obstacles with the same perseverance and dedication they have shown since March of 2020.

Best regards,

Thomas A. Wilson, Superintendent

Anderson School District Five

400 Pearman Dairy Road

Anderson, SC 29625

(864)260-5000

Congratulations to our Employees of the Year for 2020-2021

Teacher of the Year: Bethany McCall

Non-Instructional Support: Tammy Brown

Instructional Support: Donna Fennell

Custodial Support: Jerry Cobb

Food Service: Marlie Hughes