NOLA-PS Weekly COVID-19 and Revised Social Distancing Guidance

What:

NOLA Public Schools (NOLA-PS) is committed to the health and safety of our school community, and we will continue to monitor the data that measures the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and do everything we can to ensure our K-12 students remain in in-person and hybrid learning.

One significant update to our learning model is the recently adopted Centers for Disease and Control and Prevention (CDC) K-12 guidance by the Louisiana Department of Health (LDH). These new guidelines ease social distancing requirements for some student groups when transmission of COVID-19 in a community is low to moderate. Because this is the case in New Orleans, NOLA-PS will allow schools where students shift between different classrooms throughout the school day to reduce social distancing from 6 to 3 feet.

We will restore the 6-foot distancing requirement should COVID-19 transmission in New Orleans reach a "high" level, as defined by the CDC.

"At NOLA PS, we are excited for these changes because it means we are that much closer to returning all our students to in-person learning," NOLA PS Superintendent. Dr. Henderson Lewis, Jr. said. "Our high school students especially will benefit with more time in the classroom with their teachers and peers."

NOLA-PS will continue to publicly share each week the number of confirmed cases and precautionary quarantines that our schools self-report while the District remains in both in-person and distance learning. We will also remain in close contact with the Louisiana Department of Health and our health advisers as we work toward our ultimate goal of reinstating in-person learning for all students.

NOLA-PS has added new information to the COVID-19 Case Tracker to provide cumulative data of self-reported cases in our public schools since reporting began on Sept. 21, 2020. The NOLA-PS COVID-19 Case Tracker now provides the number of active and cumulative positive cases of COVID-19 by school site, and the number of positive cases of COVID-19 reported over time for the district and by school site.

When:

Weekly updates will be released each Monday afternoon by 4pm.

Where:

Visit our COVID Case Tracker dashboard to see the latest data that shows the impact of COVID-19 in our school community.

Update:

As of Friday, March 19, the District is tracking a total of 13 active cases of COVID-19 (2 staff; 11 students) among 10 schools in our school community. Of the 13 cases, 6 were newly confirmed since our last report March 15, 2021.

The District's COVID Case Tracker reports active cases over an approximately two-week period. For the purposes of our dashboard, an active case is defined as a COVID-19 case that is confirmed and within their isolation period.

All schools are required to report positive cases to the Louisiana Department of Health (LDH) and the District. The District is continuing to stay on top of updates, collaborate with state and local agencies, and work closely with our school leaders, task force, and community stakeholders to ensure a safe 2020-2021 school year.

The data included in our COVID-19 Tracker reflects self-reported cases from our schools and provides the real-time impact of the pandemic in our school community.

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About NOLA Public Schools: NOLA Public Schools is the public school district for Orleans Parish. It includes the district's administration and elected school board, known as the Orleans Parish School Board. NOLA Public Schools currently oversees 76 public schools and is led by Superintendent Dr. Henderson Lewis, Jr.

For more information, visit www.nolapublicschools.com. For updates, follow NOLA Public Schools on Facebook @NOLAPublicSchools, Instagram @nolaps and Twitter @NOLAPSchools.