Hello Greenspire Community –
As you have seen in the news, Michigan’s COVID-19 surge is the worst in the nation. We are now at positivity rates similar and in some cases now higher than November 2020 when schools were forced to go remote and strict restrictions were put back in place across the state. We all hope that does not happen again, but with the numbers listed below, we need to be prepared.
As of this email, the positivity rate for the State of Michigan is 13.3%. That number was 11.9% two days ago and just 5.5% two weeks ago.
The positivity rate for the Traverse City Region is now 14.3%. That number was 13.2% two days ago and just 6.6% two weeks ago.
The positivity rate for Grand Traverse County stands at 10.7%. That number was 10.7% two days ago and just 4.7% two weeks ago.
It is now extremely important that families follow both the daily self-check (attached) as well as the recommended CDC Travel Guidelines at: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/travelers/travel-during-covid19.html. If you require COVID-19 testing, TCAPS is offering a drive-thru test site on Monday, April 5th at Central. For more information please click here.
School-aged cases were rising in the Traverse City area before Spring Break and there have now been several cases of student to student transmission of the virus while at school, which was quite uncommon at the start of the pandemic. While children have not experienced the same rate of serious illness or complications from the COVID-19 virus as adults, that is also starting to change as hospitals particularly downstate have seen some pretty serious hospitalizations of children. Remember that about 13% of all positive COVID-19 cases in the United States involve children.
We have been extremely fortunate to not have a positive school-related case at Greenspire. That has been accomplished by our health and safety protocols as well as your help in keeping your child home when not feeling well and doing daily self checks.
If we do need to move to remote learning by order or by necessity and use our Emergency Remote Schedule, all of the information that you need as parents or guardians is located in the Toolbox section of our website under Middle School Resources at the link below.
https://greenspireschool.org/toolbox/
In the Toolbox, you will be able to find pod assignments and the Emergency Remote Schedule. All teachers have placed their Emergency Remote Schedule Zoom links prominently in the students’ current Google Classroom sites. We cannot post those publicly online for safety reasons, but students have all been shown since January in class where to find them. If needed, you can always contact the teacher directly for the link or with any questions.
If your child needs to temporarily move to remote learning, let me know and I can email you the schedule to join the fully remote students.
For students who have chosen the remote option through the end of the year, there will be no change to your schedule even if the in-person students must move to remote learning. You will maintain your current schedule with your current group.
Thanks again for your help and adaptability as we continue to navigate this pandemic. We appreciate your support and your help to keep Greenspire safe. As I know more, I will communicate any information to you via email, Facebook, and with banner postings on the website.
Robert Walker, EdD