Keeping our Community Safe

We are grateful to our entire community for helping ensure the safety of others, for supporting each other and JCHS through another year of changing protocols, and for enabling us to navigate the twists and turns of this pandemic.

Thanks to your vigilance we were able to keep school open every day last year. Thanks to your commitment to each other we can continue making real the powerful blessing of being able to learn and celebrate together in person.  

JCHS, along with our medical consultants, has been carefully following the evolving shadow of COVID – new variants, risks for new infection/reinfection, and declining severity of impacts from being infected. The general trend is positive; certainly when compared to August 2021. Still, as protocols for the school year are evolving, it is clear that we need to remain vigilant and follow proven public health measures toward ensuring the health and safety of everyone in our school community. 

One important public health change over the summer has been that SFDPH no longer has separate local guidance for schools. Instead, SFDPH is mostly deferring to the California Department of Public Health (CalDPH) for schools. 

With all of this in mind, for the start of the 2022-2023 school year, the following protocols will be in place. Rest assured, we will update them as needed to ensure the health and safety of our community:

  • Masking will be optional but is strongly recommended.
    Please know that this could change if public officials mandate mask-wearing or if our medical consultants believe full masking is in the best interest of community safety. Individual choices to mask will be respected and honored.   
  • Vaccination continues to be strongly recommended.
    JCHS strongly encourages each member of the school community to be vaccinated and to keep those vaccinations current. Please note that there may be certain athletic facilities and travel destinations that require vaccination, so it is in your best interest to keep vaccinations up-to-date.
  • Mandatory test before returning to campus, regardless of vaccination status.
    All students and Professional Community members must test negative (either PCR or antigen, lab or self-test) to return to school for the first time following summer break. Depending on when you first come onto campus you may need to test multiple times, once between August 8-21 and once between August 22-26.
  • JCHS will require and offer (free) weekly onsite testing for ALL students and ProCom on Thursdays. JCHS believes this is the best way to reliably and routinely  detect COVID cases and prevent community spread. 
  • The first test date for this protocol is Thursday, August 18. See above for those who need to test sooner if they are returning to campus before August 18.
  • Those who miss a JCHS testing appointment or cannot come to campus on a weekly Thursday testing date, must provide proof of a negative antigen test the following Monday or first school day of the week.
  • JCHS is using AgileForce, as we did in 2021/2022 to run the testing. 
  • Please use this login to schedule testing. Students cannot register for testing independently, it must be done by a parent/guardian. Students can be tested only if registered for each week. 

Everyone entering campus must complete a daily wellness check using the SchoolPass app.

This app will help JCHS to both take attendance and screen symptomatic individuals from entering campus. Please note the wellness questions will be updated from time to time. Families will receive information about SchoolPass later this week.

  • Reporting of COVID positive cases to JCHS is mandatory.
  • If a JCHS student or ProCom member tests positive for COVID, they must immediately notify JCHS at covidtest@jchsofthebay.org. Then they must follow the CalDPH isolation protocols (or those from SFDPH if more restrictive). 
  • When a positive case is reported to JCHS, the school will notify that student or ProCom member about specific isolation requirements in effect at that time. 
  • JCHS will not be reporting cases to the general school community as SFDPH has dropped the requirement for schools to report cases.

If a student needs to miss school due to COVID, or for any other health reason, we encourage the student to recuperate at home and return to school as soon as possible. Students can communicate directly with their teachers to learn about work that might be missed. Or a member of the Student Support Team may reach out to help the student plan for keeping up with work. There will not be an option for “zooming” into classes except in extreme, extended situations approved by the Assistant Head of School. In those extreme, extended cases the student at home will be able to passively, but not actively, participate in class. 

  • All visitors to JCHS will be asked to:
    • Book an appointment in advance before coming onto campus, 
    • Complete the wellness check, AND
    • Remain masked indoors