Return to Learn

January 21, 2022

Good afternoon Prince George Families, 

Since the beginning of the pandemic, Prince George County Public Schools has been committed to establishing policies and procedures that support the health of our community, complying with all applicable laws and regulations, and providing choices to our families when possible. 

On Monday, we shared information with you regarding Governor Glenn Youngkin’s Executive Order 2 (EO2), which provides parents with the ability to elect for their children not to be subject to the requirement to wear masks at the child’s school or education program. 

On Thursday evening, the Prince George School Board took action to continue to honor all applicable laws and regulations including Executive Order 2. 

The action included the following requirements:

• Honor Executive Order 2 which allows parents to opt-out of whether their child wears a face covering at school beginning Monday, January 24th.
• All students who use school transportation will continue to be required to wear a face covering while being transported due to the face covering order from the federal Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). This applies to passengers and drivers on school buses.
• For those students whose parents opt them out of wearing masks, they will need to remain home for the full ten-day isolation period.  Or, the student can come back to school if they wear a mask for those additional 5 days (Days 6-10) following the original 5 day isolation period.  Recently, the CDC and VDH shortened the isolation time for those who tested positive for COVID-19, from the previously required 10 days to 5 days, so as long as the person had no symptoms, or symptoms are improving, and they wear a well-fitting mask when they return for an additional five days after their isolation ends. 

• COVID-19 Vaccines: While vaccinations are not required, we encourage our families to consider having their children vaccinated against COVID-19. The CDC reports COVID-19 vaccines have been effective at preventing serious illness from the virus and limiting the spread of COVID-19. Everyone age 5 and older is eligible to receive a vaccine.  To find a location close to you, visit http://vaccinate.virginia.gov. 

• ViSSTA Testing Program: Last week, we shared with our families regarding the free, voluntary COVID-19 screening testing program for our students as part of the Virginia School Screening Testing for Assurance (ViSSTA) program through the Virginia Department of Health. This is a voluntary program and parents must complete a consent form for their child to participate. Screening testing can help identify infected people who may be contagious as early as possible so measures can be taken to keep the virus from spreading. For more information about this program, please visit our website by clicking HERE.
  
  
• COVID-19 Mitigation Efforts: We continue to carry out robust cleaning on our campuses daily to help reduce the spread of COVID-19. Our district works closely alongside the Virginia Department of Health and Crater Health District in regards to contact tracing and other mitigation strategies. This partnership has helped our district do our very best to keep our school community safe since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
  
  

We will continue to monitor these areas and remain in regular communication with our local and state health partners for updates to ensure our campuses remain safe and healthy environments for our students to learn.

Thank you,

Lisa Pennycuff, Ed.D
Superintendent