The Zone Medical Officer of Health notified us earlier today that the COVID-19 outbreak that was declared at the school on November 22 has now been lifted. Thank you all for your patience and cooperation during the outbreak period.

North Star Elementary School will continue to follow the protocols and guidelines included in the COVID-19 Guidance for Schools (K-12) and School Buses document provided to us by Alberta Education and Alberta Health. 

While the outbreak has been lifted, we are still in the process of receiving the At-Home Rapid Test kits that we ordered for families and staff. These will be distributed once they arrive at the school and we encourage families who wish to participate to do so. 

Families can assist us with maintaining healthy and safe schools by:

• Completing the Alberta Health Daily Checklist before boarding a school bus or entering a school
• Ensuring students stay home if they are feeling ill in accordance to the requirements and guidelines included in the Alberta Daily Checklist
• Reporting student absences to your child’s school and indicating whether or not the absence is due to illness so we can effectively monitor absences.
• Reinforcing and reviewing proper hand hygiene with students including hand washing and use of hand sanitizer
• Supporting your child with their mental health needs and informing us if and when your child may need extra support
• Informing the school if your child tests positive for COVID-19 so we can continue to inform parents when there are cases connected to their child’s school.

ORIGINAL POST:

Alberta Health Services informed us today that it has declared a COVID-19 outbreak at North Star Elementary School. According to the current AHS protocols that are in place, an outbreak is declared once there are 10 or more confirmed cases in the school setting (students and staff members) within a 14-day period who were present at the school while infectious.

AHS has asked us to share the attached letter with families and staff at the school. Please follow the recommended guidelines included in that letter.  Anyone who needs to book a COVID-19 test, based on current AHS guidelines, should use Outbreak Number 2021-11774 when booking their test to assist with the outbreak investigation. Further information is included in the letter from AHS. 

AHS Outbreak Notification - November 22, 2021

North Star Elementary will be ordering kits for students and staff to do at-home asymptomatic rapid screening. Participation is voluntary and kits will only be distributed to families who request them. Testing is only for people who do not have symptoms. Anyone who has symptoms should receive testing from an AHS assessment centre.  Families who choose to participate will receive 10 testing kits per student and are encouraged to complete five weeks of testing (twice a week). Anyone who tests positive using a rapid test is legally required to isolate for 10 days unless they receive a negative PCR test. Students and staff are not required to report the results of a rapid test.

If you are interested in receiving rapid test kits for your family, please complete this Google Form. Once the kits have arrived at the school, we will share information with families about how and when the kits will be distributed.

The Government of Alberta has created a guide for parents, students and staff with more information about the program and how to do an at-home rapid test: K-6 At-Home Rapid Testing Program: Information for Parents, Students and School Staff. They have also created a video that shows how to perform an At-Home Rapid Test: How to perform at at-home rapid test for COVID-19.

Thank you for your ongoing support and cooperation. We will continue to work with AHS and will provide families with updates as they become available.