Maintaining close contact with, and seeking regular guidance from, your primary care doctor - whether a pediatrician or family physician - is an important element in maintaining a healthy and safe environment in schools. AISD urges you to seek out and adhere to recommendations from your family’s personal physician about health issues, including those related to COVID-19.

Aledo ISD is proud to partner with the Parker County Hospital District (PCHD) to provide Bearcat Care at each of our campuses. The Bearcat Care Service allows for a telemedicine visit with a licensed nurse practitioner or family physician through the nurse’s clinic on the school campus. Through collaboration between AISD nursing staff and PCHD medical staff, a thorough exam can be completed, tests like flu, strep and COVID-19 can be administered, and medications can be prescribed to be picked up at a pharmacy of choice. The telemedicine visit with the PCHD physician or nurse practitioner will not initiate until parents have completed the enrollment process and without explicit consent from parents. The Bearcat Care service is available to enrolled students as well as district employees. Both rapid and PCR COVID-19 tests are available. To learn more about and to register (students or staff) for this service, click here. 

Update 8-25-21: Due to the incredible demand on the Bearcat Care Clinics right now, as well as on our partner PCHD, we need to prioritize the visits of students and staff who are at school. To best manage wait times and facilitate the best and fastest care to everyone needing it, we encourage families and staff members who are not at school to seek options away from the Bearcat Care Clinic first. Both Parker County and the Texas Department of State Health Services have testing location information on their website.

Before a person enters an AISD facility, they (or their parent) must check themselves for COVID-19 symptoms. Parents/guardians are expected to screen their student(s) for COVID-19 symptoms each day prior to sending their student(s) to school/a school event or placing their student(s) on the school bus. All individuals are to be free of the following symptoms prior to entering an AISD facility: 

• Fever of 100.0° F or above or feeling feverish 
• New or unexplained cough 
• New or unexplained trouble breathing, shortness of breath or wheezing 
• New or unexplained fatigue 
• Sore throat 
• Diarrhea 
• New or unexplained nausea or vomiting 
• New or unexplained muscle aches 
• New or unexplained headache 
• New or unexplained congestion or runny nose 
• New or unexplained loss of smell, taste, or change in taste 

Allergies vs. COVID-19

COVID-19 and allergy symptoms are very similar, and we have had instances where individuals ultimately tested COVID-19 positive but had symptoms for several days and attributed it to allergies. The chart below from the CDC explains the differences between symptoms of COVID-19 and allergies. Anyone experiencing symptoms of both COVID-19 and allergies should consider staying home and being tested.

On Tuesday, May 18, 2021, Texas Governor Greg Abbott issued Executive Order GA-36 that prohibits school districts from requiring a person to wear a face covering. Aledo ISD will not require face coverings for anyone on district property. Any person on district property has the option of wearing a face covering, and Aledo ISD strongly encourages wearing face coverings indoors when distancing of three feet or greater is not possible for more than 15 minutes. Many national, state and local health authorities and healthcare providers, including the Parker County Local Health Authority, Cook Children’s Healthcare System, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the CDC recommend wearing face coverings in an effort to slow the spread of COVID-19 in schools. 

District staff will be diligent in supporting students in their choice regarding masking and will support and expect respect among students regarding their choice.

Masks are available at all district facilities for use by students, staff and visitors, and face shields will also be available to staff and to students upon request.

COVID-19 vaccines are available for individuals age 12 and older. If you are interested in finding a vaccination location, please visit https://dshs.texas.gov/covidvaccine/ or https://www.vaccines.gov/. 

Please note that, per CDC recommendation, students who are fully vaccinated and not showing symptoms of COVID-19 do not require any action following close contact with a COVID-positive individual but should monitor symptoms and should take a COVID-19 test 3-5 days following exposure to be sure they are not positive. Anyone - vaccinated or not - with symptoms consistent with COVID-19 should not come to school. 

Maintaining social distance at our schools with all students present is a significant challenge. When possible, students and staff are encouraged to maintain a physical distance of 3 feet apart. Campus leadership has worked to create separation between students when possible. Teachers and staff are encouraged to use outdoor space or spaces that allow for more distance when instructionally possible. 

Teachers will review materials with students that discuss proper protocols and expectations for hand washing and covering coughs and sneezes. Each campus will have visual reminders (e.g. posters) throughout the building of the proper protocols for hand washing. 

In addition to handwashing, the use of hand sanitizer is also recommended. Alcohol-based hand sanitizer will be at the entrance of the campus, in each classroom and in the cafeteria. Students and staff are encouraged to sanitize their hands frequently, especially when entering class, before and after handling manipulatives, and before and after eating.

Custodial staff will clean and disinfect each classroom, restroom, office and common area each day, with additional disinfecting of all high-touch areas multiple times per day. Custodial staff will use EPA-registered disinfectants, approved for use against COVID-19. The district will use electrostatic misters in each facility on a rotating basis throughout the year and also for specific areas based on need. Each classroom will have disinfectant solution that students and/or staff may use to sanitize high touch and working surfaces and frequently shared items as needed.

All staff meetings of 15 minutes or more must be virtual. Parent meetings with staff/parent conferences (such as ARD Committee or Section 504 meeting) will be held virtually, as well. Indoor, in-person parent meetings held in district facilities are suspended at this time, i.e. PTO, Project Graduation, booster clubs, etc.

Visitors and volunteers in Aledo ISD facilities are expected to follow the same protocols as students and staff, including self-screening for symptoms prior to entering buildings. 

All individuals, including visitors and volunteers, are to be free of the following symptoms prior to entering an AISD facility: 

• Fever of 100.0° F or above or feeling feverish 
• New or unexplained cough 
• New or unexplained trouble breathing, shortness of breath or wheezing 
• New or unexplained fatigue 
• Sore throat 
• Diarrhea 
• New or unexplained nausea or vomiting 
• New or unexplained muscle aches 
• New or unexplained headache 
• New or unexplained congestion or runny nose 
• New or unexplained loss of smell, taste or change in taste 

Visitors and volunteers are prohibited from coming into school facilities if they have tested positive for COVID-19 and shall report to AISD if they test positive for COVID-19 shortly after being on district property. Recent visitors and volunteers shall report a positive COVID-19 test here. 

Masks will be available at all district facilities.

During mealtime in elementary school cafeterias, students will sit with at least three feet of distance between each student. If a parent comes to eat with their child, the parent and child will sit at a designated table, at least six feet from other students. No one other than the parent’s child/ren will be permitted to sit at the table with a visiting parent.

Water fountains will not be accessible to students; however, students can use the bottle-filling stations on campus. Aledo ISD urges parents to send their student to school with a container for water with their name clearly marked on it.

If a student or staff member has tested positive for COVID-19, the parent or staff member should notify the district by using this form, also located on the district website.

The Texas Department of State Health Services has categorized COVID-19 as a disease requiring a student’s exclusion from school for a particular number of days under 25 Tex. Admin. Code § 97.7 - much like chicken pox or pertussis (whooping cough). Aledo ISD will follow this state requirement. Below is information from the DSHS website (click here for more information):

A school administrator shall exclude from attendance any child having or suspected of having COVID-19. Exclusion shall continue until the readmission criteria for the conditions are met. The readmission criteria for COVID-19 is as follows:

If symptomatic, exclude until at least 10 days have passed since symptom onset, and fever free*, and other symptoms have improved. Children who test positive for COVID-19 but do not have any symptoms must stay home until at least 10 days after the day they were tested.

*Fever free for 24 hours without the use of fever suppressing medications. Fever is a temperature of 100° Fahrenheit (37.8° Celsius) or higher.

Aledo ISD will follow the requirement from DSHS for students (see above) and for staff members as well. Any staff member who has COVID-19 will be excluded from coming to work and can return only when meeting the readmission criteria for positive cases of COVID-19 as follows:

If symptomatic, exclude until at least 10 days have passed since symptom onset, and fever free*, and other symptoms have improved. Staff who test positive for COVID-19 but do not have any symptoms must stay home until at least 10 days after the day they were tested.

*Fever free for 24 hours without the use of fever suppressing medications. Fever is a temperature of 100° Fahrenheit (37.8° Celsius) or higher.

When a student or staff member is on district property and learns they have tested positive for COVID-19, the campus isolation plan must be followed. The campus will immediately separate any student or staff member who shows COVID-19 symptoms. 

• A student will immediately be separated in the isolation area and monitored until the student can be picked up by a parent/guardian or designated emergency contact(s). Students should be picked up as soon as possible. 
• A staff member will immediately be separated from everyone else in the building, and will be sent home. The staff member should leave the building as soon as possible.

When a student or staff member has symptoms of COVID-19 or his/her temperature is 100°F or higher and he/she is at school, the school nurse will provide a clinical assessment to determine if and when they may need to be sent home. Like in other healthcare settings, if a student is sick and visits the school nurse, in some instances and at the nurse’s discretion as the healthcare provider, the nurse may require that the student wear a mask while in the clinic. The nurse will have masks available for this purpose. If a student’s parent or the staff member desires testing for COVID-19, and doing so is deemed appropriate by the campus nurse, the campus nurse will administer a test for COVID-19. If a test is administered and is positive, the steps outlined above (see Lab-Confirmed Positive for COVID-19) shall be followed. If the child or staff member is not tested or a COVID-19 test is negative, parents or the staff member should monitor symptoms, go home and stay home while sick, and consider seeking advice from their physician. If there is a negative COVID-19 test and unless otherwise directed by the physician, the individual can return to school when all symptoms have cleared and they are fever-free for 24 hours without the use of fever-reducing medications. 

For a visual representation of this information please refer to the AISD 2021-2022 COVID-19 Process Maps.

When a student or staff member has symptoms of COVID-19 or their temperature is 100°F or higher and they are not at school, they should stay home. They should remain home while sick, monitor symptoms, and seek advice from their physician as needed. Unless otherwise directed by the physician, the individual can return to school when all symptoms have cleared and they are fever-free for 24 hours without the use of fever-reducing medications. If at any time while the student or staff member is staying at home for symptoms of COVID-19 or for having a temperature 100°F or higher the student or staff member tests positive for COVID-19, follow the steps outlined above in the Lab-Confirmed Positive for COVID-19 section.

For a visual representation of this information please refer to the AISD 2021-2022 COVID-19 Process Maps.