By Elizabeth Hung, Staff Writer
The surge in COVID-19 cases, particularly of the omicron variant, poses a challenge for school districts and employers worldwide to keep students, staff and employees safe without reverting to overly-restrictive guidelines.
With this in mind, students at TCHS can choose to take part in a short-term independent study program. SIS allows students to gain attendance credit while not physically on campus. They still have to complete all required work, which will be due on the day they return.
TCHS students are eligible to be placed on the SIS contract for a minimum of three days and a maximum of 14 days. This applies if they have been identified as close contact or have planned absences, like for a vacation.
Students who are unable to attend school in-person for issues unrelated to COVID-19 can also choose to participate in SIS. Upon returning to school, students must visit the attendance office and have their teachers sign a packet to verify that the student completed all required work during their absence.
If the student is staying home because they tested positive for COVID-19, they can choose to go on SIS or have it reported as a regular absence.
Students can also switch to TC Virtual Academy. They first need to speak with their parents and their counselor. The TCVA schedule is more flexible: students have homeroom and a class for each subject area once a week. Counselors advise students to commit to TCVA for a whole semester for the sake of continuity.
Also in response to increased cases, the school is prohibiting all events and extracurricular activities outside of the school day. The district postponed events such as the Dance Concert and Camellia Festival; the county will provide directions on when these events may resume.
The district office offers testing on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Students and staff must complete the COVID-19 Test Registration in the PRIVIT Pass Portal to get tested.
In addition, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced on Dec. 22 that California would provide about 6 million at-home rapid antigen tests to public schools. The program is meant to provide at least one test kit for every K-12 student.
These antigen test kits are available to symptomatic students on campus or at home. For those on campus, parents of the symptomatic students will pick the test up in the parking lot and administer it. Those at home can take a PCR test at the district office.
The student may stay on campus if they receive a negative test result. If the test is positive, the student must stay home for at least five days. They can return upon taking an antigen test on or after the fifth day and uploading a negative result on their PRIVIT Portal account.
If they receive a positive test result on or after the fifth day, they can return after a negative result or ten days of isolation.