Ponca City Public School students return to classes on Tuesday, Jan. 4, 2022. The CDC and OSDH issued new shortened isolation and quarantine guidelines based on specific criteria that became effective Dec. 27, 2021. Additional information can be found by visiting https://www.cdc.gov/…/s1227-isolation-quarantine….
If your child tested positive for COVID over the Winter Break, please contact your child’s site even if the isolation period is over. Once someone tests positive, there is an exemption from close contact quarantine for 90 days per OSDH guidelines. Our offices are staffed today, January 3, even though students are not at school until tomorrow.
The Kay County Risk Level is currently at 59.1, which is in the Red Level Risk Zone, and Kay County had the highest risk level in the state last week.
With the high risk level in the county and the number of confirmed PCPS staff cases of COVID over the break, the PCPS Board of Education Approved Mask Requirement with Opt-Out Options will be strictly monitored, so please send a mask to school with your child.
If you have not opted-out of the mask requirement and want to do so, parents of students under 18 can bring in a handwritten opt-out form or use the district opt-out form, which can be found by visiting www.pcps.us or https://p13cdn4static.sharpschool.com/…/Mask….
There is an English and a Spanish version on the website. Search mask opt-out form on the district website.
If a PCPS student is a COVID case or close contact, our COVID facilitator, nurse Michael Webb, will provide clear details of required isolations or quarantine expectations.
“We are hopeful we can limit the spread of the Omicron variant, but this variant is highly communicable,” said PCPS Superintendent Shelley Arrott. “We will be monitoring the PCPS Mask Requirement closely, so please send a mask to school with your child unless you have opted-out for them. We must take precautions so we can keep our students in school and can continue with scheduled activities. Our safety protocols will be heightened during this surge of Omicron.”
