COVID-19 Information

COVID-19 UPDATES
April 15, 2022 - COVID-19 Exposure Email Notifications

Effective March 12, 2022, the Nine Mile Falls School District will be sending out classroom and/or campus exposure notifications to all students and staff members who may have been potentially exposed to COVID-19 while at school or work.

Students:  This notice will be sent out to all students in the same classroom(s) on the same day as a qualifying individual* who may have been infectious or contagious, regardless of proximity to the potential exposure.

Staff:  This notice will be sent out to all staff members who were on the premises at the same worksite on the same day as a qualifying individual* who may have been infectious or contagious, regardless of proximity to the potential exposure.

*For COVID-19, a qualifying individual could be infectious or contagious at least two days before feeling sick; or, if symptomatic, at least two days before being tested AND until they are isolated and/or leave the campus.

April 13, 2022
Dear Staff and Nine Mile Families,

 

As you may know, the State Board of Health (SBOH), which determines immunization requirements for students in all of Washington’s K–12 schools, has been considering whether or not to require the COVID-19 vaccine for students. 

 

Today, SBOH voted to not require Washington’s students to be vaccinated against COVID-19 for school attendance. This means this fall, immunization requirements for our students will remain unchanged.

 

We are anticipating the current health and safety guidance from the state Department of Health will remain in place next fall. This includes encouraging––but not requiring––masks, regular cleaning and disinfecting, sharing reminders of proper hand hygiene, and physical distancing to the extent possible while ensuring a full-time in-person opportunity for all students.

 

As a reminder, as we have learned throughout the pandemic, the situation with the virus can evolve, and sometimes the guidance changes for us to continue providing the safest learning environment possible for our school community.  We will continue to communicate any changes as they become available.

 

Sincerely,

 

Jeff Baerwald

March 11, 2022

Hello 9 Mile Families,

First, we want to thank you for all of your support during these past two years. With your help, we have navigated through many COVID challenges.  As a result of our collective efforts,  beginning on Monday, March 14, 2022, masking becomes optional for all students, staff, and volunteers in our Nine Mile Schools.

Due to the lifting of the mask mandate, the Washington State Department of Health has sent out new requirements regarding COVID mitigation in our schools.  Please take a look at the attachment to this message for additional information.  Below you will find a simple overview of these new requirements:

-Masks must be worn in the Health Room or Isolation room by all staff and students.
-If a student or staff member tests positive for COVID they may return to school after 5 days of quarantine.  In order to return to school on day 6, they must wear a mask for days 6-10 or test negative.
-Symptomatic students or staff must be sent home if sick at school.  If they choose to test and test negative, they may stay at school as long as their symptoms don’t include fever or loss of taste/smell.
-We will no longer be contact tracing. 

Finally, we wanted you to know that beginning on Monday, March 14, 2022, all drive-up testing will take place at the District Office located at 10110 W Charles Rd.

The drive up testing hours will be:

8:30-9:00am Monday-Friday
1:30-2:30pm Monday-Friday

Thank you Nine Mile!

Jeff Baerwald

Updated COVID Flowchart

February 28, 2022

Hello Nine Mile Families.  Today is February 28th

Earlier today Governor Inslee sent out a press release and also held a press conference to provide an update and modification to lifting the indoor masking mandate.  

Effective on Friday, March 11th at 11:59pm, the indoor masking mandate in the state of Washington will be lifted.  For our district, this means masks will become optional for all students, staff, and visitors beginning Monday, March 14, 2022.  

Again, this means that our families and students will have the choice to mask or not.  As a district, we will still provide masks for those staff, students, and visitors that continue to make the choice to mask.  However, the choice mask is yours.  

Next week we are expecting to receive new guidance from the Department of Health and our Local Health Jurisdiction about how to address COVID positive and symptomatic students and staff in our schools. We will share that information as soon as it becomes available.

As we await Monday, March 14th to arrive as our first mask optional day, we want to remind all students and parents that masking is still required in our schools through March 11th. We are truly appreciative of all of your support over these past two years and kindly ask that you continue to help support us by having your child follow the current masking mandate through Friday, March 11th.  

With this new mask optional date, we only have 9 school days remaining before the mask mandate is behind us…please help us get there safely…we got this 9 Mile!

Jeff Baerwald

February 17, 2022

Hello Nine Mile Families.  Today is February 17th and this is Jeff Baerwald.

At 2:00 pm today Governor Inslee held a press conference to share information about the future of COVID mitigation strategies in our schools and throughout our state. The Omicron variant impacted many of our students, families, and staff over the past two months.  However, the significant number of positive COVID cases we were experiencing just two weeks ago has diminished to only a few cases within our district this week.  This is one of the reasons why we were excited to hear the Governor's announcement today.  

Beginning on Monday, March 21, 2022, masking will become optional in our schools for all students, staff, and visitors regardless of vaccination status.  This means that our families and students will have the choice to mask or not.  As a district, we will still provide masks for those staff, students, and visitors that continue to make the choice to mask.  Again, beginning on Monday, March 21st the choice to mask will be left to you, the parent, and your child.

Over the coming weeks, we will get new guidance from the Department of Health and our Local Health Jurisdiction about how to address COVID positive and symptomatic students and staff in our schools.  What we have heard so far is that COVID testing will still be a vital tool for keeping our schools open and keeping students and staff safe. Furthermore, most of our classrooms have plenty of space to continue to maintain distancing, another important mitigation strategy. We will share additional information as soon as it becomes available.

As we await the March 21st masks optional date to arrive, we want to remind all students and parents that masking is still required in our schools.  We ask that you continue to help support us by having your child follow the current masking mandate we are still legally mandated to adhere to until March 21st.  

We only have 20 school days remaining before the mask mandate is behind us…please help us get there safely…we can do this 9 Mile!

February 4, 2022

Dear Nine Mile Falls School District Families and Staff -

The Northeast Tri-County Health District (NETCHD) released updated requirements for K-12 schools, including information on household exposures. 

We have updated that information here, highlighted in yellow.  

The NMFSD Covid Cheat Sheet

Thank you for your patience and understanding as we continue to navigate the changes to the COVID isolation rules.

January 14, 2022

We hope you and your family are staying safe and healthy.  This update will explain the recent changes from the Washington Department of Health and share the adjustments the district must make in order to effectively serve our students and staff.

First, we have created a short cheat sheet here to help you better understand the new requirements associated with Test to Stay and quarantine requirements. We have also attached the Department of Health’s one-page cheat sheet here as an additional reference.

Here are a few updates regarding the district's testing times and protocols for COVID.  Each school will now have set times for curbside drop-in testing of students and staff.  Please pull up to the curb in front of the building and we will come out to test your children. 

Updated Hours (effective 1/24/2022):

Lakeside Middle School: Front Door, 8:30-9:00am, M-F

Nine Mile Falls Elementary: Gym Door, 8:30-9:00am, M-F (please call 509-340-4012 when you arrive)

District Office: Front Door, 1:00-2:30pm, M-F

The following procedures have been put in place due to the significant increase in testing:

  •  We will continue to test students that are in school, with parent consent, as needed throughout the school day at all of our schools.
  •  We will only contact parents/students if the test results are positive.
  •  We are only contacting parents of students that are a close contact to a positive.
  •  We are only testing students and staff members.

We are doing everything in our power to keep our schools open. We do want all of our families to know that we have a plan in place if we must close a classroom, school, or the district and move to remote learning. The Nine Mile Falls School District has an “all hands on deck” approach.  If we are forced to move to remote learning, we will communicate that with you as soon as that decision is made, and it will be for no more than 5 consecutive days. 

Depending on which school(s) your child(ren) attend(s), you may receive additional messages in the next day or two from that school as they prepare for all these possibilities. 

When you have questions about COVID-19, please check the COVID-19  tab at www.9mile.org prior to contacting your students' school.

Thank you for your continued support,

Jeff Baerwald