Salt Lake City School District unveils plans for coping with COVID-19 crisis

March 12, 2020

Dear SLCSD families and community, 

We have a few announcements related to how our schools will be operating for the next two weeks.  

Today, we received guidance from Utah Governor Gary Herbert, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Dr. Sydnee Dickson, and our state and local health department officials with regard to school closure guidelines in light of COVID-19 in our community. Their guidance is to keep schools open unless we have received specific guidance from the health department. Our schools play an essential function in our communities beyond providing our students with quality education, and we don’t take this decision lightly. 

Thankfully, right now, we have ZERO cases of COVID-19 in Salt Lake City School District schools. Our schools will remain open next week as scheduled. But based on the guidance we received today, we are taking some pre-emptive measures to help curb the spread of COVID-19 in our community. The topics below have been organized in alphabetical order. 

ATHLETICS & UHSAA 

• Today, the Utah High School Activities Association issued guidance for all UHSAA activities.  
• The State Debate Championships, which were scheduled this weekend, have been suspended.  
• Starting on Monday, March 16th, all spring activities will be suspended for at least two weeks. 
• Athletic practices may still continue at the discretion of each school. 

CENSUS 

• 2020 is a Census year, and 2020 marks the first time the U.S. Census will be conducted online. 
• Your participation in the U.S. Census is crucial and affects the federal funding we receive for our students and schools. 
• We had scheduled some time over Spring Break for computer labs at six of our schools to remain open for community members to fill out the Census. 
• Unfortunately, we will need to postpone this event over Spring Break. We will communicate with you at a later date if we are able to reschedule. 

COMMUNITY LEARNING CENTERS (CLCs) 

• Our community learning centers function as essential gathering spaces and provide many important services to our community, including access to medical care. 
• Community members visiting our CLCs for any non-medical reasons are being asked to use the entrances marked “Community Learning.”  
• Our CLC Intermountain clinics are closely monitoring anyone who enters through the entrances marked “Health and Wellness,” and we want to provide them the space to operate effectively. 
• Intermountain has advised that patients who are sick with any fever or upper respiratory symptoms should be screened by telemedicine and should NOT come in person to a clinic.  
• If you do not have access to telemedicine services, you can contact the State Coronavirus Hotline at 385-429-0015 for more guidance. 
• The CLC clinics will NOT treat any patients for illnesses with fever or upper respiratory symptoms.  

COVID-19 COMMUNICATIONS 

• The Salt Lake City School District will centralize COVID-19 communications efforts via our district website, https://www.slcschools.org/. You can access the district’s COVID-19 page directly at http://coronavirus.slcschools.org/. 
• Our website has a translation function in the top left corner. Given that our district families speak more than 80 languages, we want to communicate in a way that will allow as many families as possible to receive information in the language of their choice. Our website is the most efficient way to provide timely updates that can be translated. 
• We will supplement this with communications to parents and staff via email, SMS, and voicemail. We will also communicate via social media on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.  
• To make sure you receive district text messages and voicemail, please opt in to our messaging system following these instructions: 
  • Send a text message of “Y” or “Yes” to our school district’s short code number, 67587. This will opt you in to receiving important messages from us. 
  • You can opt out of these messages at any time by simply replying to one of our messages with “Stop”.  
  • Rest assured that your information is safe and will never be given or sold to anyone. 

CUSTODIAL 

• During the last few months, our custodial crews have increased their efforts to sanitize our schools and buildings throughout the day and to deep clean at night. 
• These efforts will be expanded over Spring Break (March 23-27). District employees will work remotely that week to allow for a thorough disinfecting of every district building. 
• Starting tomorrow, Friday March 13, all school events, including afterschool programs, will need to end by 6pm in order to allow our custodial teams enough time to thoroughly sanitize our buildings each night. 
• On March 20, 2020, all schools that have an early release day will not have an Afterschool Program so that custodial staff can get all the schools deep cleaned starting with half day schools and continuing during Spring Break. 
• Because COVID-19 can be transmitted through respiratory droplets, we will also work over the next two weeks to change HVAC filters in every one of our buildings. 
• The above protocols apply to all district schools, including our district affiliated charter schools (Salt Lake Center for Science Education, Open Classroom, and Salt School for the Performing Arts). 

FIELD TRIPS 

• All school field trips scheduled to take place over the next two weeks will be cancelled. 

ILLNESS 

• In the event that your student becomes ill with flu-like symptoms or upper respiratory symptoms, and if you believe your student may have been exposed to someone with a confirmed case of COVID-19, please do the following: 
  • Keep your student home. The best way to prevent the spread of illness is for sick individuals to remain at home. 
  • Contact your local healthcare provider over the phone or via telemedicine options. 
  • Notify your school principal. 
  • If you have additional health-related questions, you can also contact the State Coronavirus Hotline at 385-429-0015. 
• I have instructed our schools to be flexible with students who may need to be absent for extended periods of time. 

LARGE GATHERINGS 

• All large gatherings (over 50 people) in our schools will be suspended until further notice. We received guidance today from Governor Gary Herbert to avoid congregating in large gatherings of more than 100 individuals. The district is taking extra precautions and defining a “large gathering” as any gathering of more than 50 people. 
• This includes canceling all evening rentals for non-school affiliated events, effective immediately. 
• It also includes postponing school-sponsored evening events such as art nights, concerts, school plays, etc. We hope to be able to reschedule these important events at a later date. 
• We will also postpone school conferences (parent teacher conferences, SEP conferences, etc) until further notice. 
• During the school day, this means the suspension of school assemblies or any other event that gathers more than 100 students in one place at a time. 
• We have asked our schools to stagger lunch and recess times, if possible, to minimize large student gatherings throughout the day. We understand that especially at some of our larger schools and secondary schools, it will be difficult to restrict student movement throughout the day, but please know that our school administrators are making their best efforts to protect our students’ health.  

SPRING BREAK 

• Spring Break will still be held March 23-27. Our schools will be deep cleaned and sanitized during this time and most district employees will work remotely. 
• If you plan to travel for Spring Break, please consult the Center for Disease Control (CDC) website for the latest travel information: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/travelers/index.html. 
• State Superintendent Dr. Sydney Dickson said today that new COVID-19 guidance will be issued in two weeks’ time. This timeline coincides with the end of spring break. We will share any guidance with you via email and via our district website, https://www.slcschools.org/. You can access the district’s COVID-19 page directly at http://coronavirus.slcschools.org/. 

STAFF/STUDENT TRAVEL 

• Under the recommendation of the Salt Lake County Health Department and State Superintendent Dr. Sydney Dickson, all out of state travel for students and staff has been suspended immediately until at least April 15. Depending on any future guidance, travel may be suspended through the end of the school year. 
• In-state student travel will be managed on a case by case basis depending on the location, activity, and guidelines from the local health department near the time of travel. 

VOLUNTEERS 

• To minimize exposure to our students, school volunteers (including parents) will be prohibited from our campuses, effective immediately.  
• This restriction applies to all schools, including district affiliated charter schools. 

Unless noted specifically, the above changes will be in place through the end of Spring Break. We will continue to inform you via this website and through our other channels mentioned above. Our website will be updated as quickly as possible with any new information. 

I want to thank you for your patience, concern, and understanding during this time. We know your families are feeling pressure, and we hope our communications will help you stay informed and to make the best decisions for your family. Please continue to encourage your families to use good hygiene practices, including proper handwashing, to help curb the spread of illness in our schools. The situation in our community (and globally) is changing minute by minute, and we will work as quickly as we can to keep you updated with the latest information.  

I appreciate everything you are doing to keep our school communities safe. 

Sincerely, 

Dr. Lexi Cunningham 
Superintendent 
Salt Lake City School District