Poudre School District to Shift to Phase 1 Remote

Poudre School District will shift all grade levels to Phase 1: Remote Learning beginning Monday, November 23 through winter break as COVID-19 cases increase in Larimer County at an alarming rate.

Pre K-12 students will remain in Phase 3 hybrid learning for the week of Monday, November 16, with Poudre School District (PSD) virtual students continuing 1– percent online learning with no change. PSD’s teams are currently having difficulty trying to maintain the capacity to conduct contact tracing investigations with the health department and do the work of teaching and caring for children.

Many classes of students and staff are moved into remote learning daily for case assessments, with many being later quarantined as close contacts to slow the virus spread. PSD hoped to remain in Phase 3 for as long as it had been determined safe to do so but realize that the time for a shift is now.

There were 154 confirmed and 80 presumptive positive cases within PSD between Monday, October 5, and Thursday, November 12. PSD has launched a new PSD data dashboard accessible on the School Status and Information web page listed below.

Community-wide spread has limited PSD’s ability to provide in-person education as all four comprehensive high schools now have school or classroom outbreaks defined by the state health department. A majority of the cases PSD is seeing are linked to a positive family member or sibling, a weekend get-together, Halloween party, or a student or staff member who displayed symptoms during the school day.

PSD has been monitoring case trends within PSD and county data through the lens of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment COVID-19 Dial, which consists of five levels to aid local communities in decision making to balance economic and social activity while ensuring capacity to contain the virus. Larimer County currently falls under Level Yellow: Safer at Home.

Larimer County has 531 cases per 100,000 people, exceeding the cutoff point of 350 for Level Red by 181. The test positivity percentage is 9.4%, which is more than double from two weeks ago at 4.6%, with the cut point for Level Red at 15%. A total of 62 COVID-19 patients are currently in the hospital, and the county dashboard sets 65 at the High-Risk level.

PSD is asking for the community’s help to return to in-person learning by flattening the curve through wearing a mask, watching distances between others, washing hands, and keeping get-togethers small with only one other household group as advised by public health officials.

What to expect in remote learning is as follows:

Learn more: Remote Learning: What to Expect web page.

PSD continues to work on how best to support the most at-risk students in any learning phase, including as part of this shift.

Students and parents will continue to access online learning applications, access assignments, communicate with teachers, and more through Teacher Landing Pages.

PSD will continue to distribute meals and share more information about how meal distribution will look due to the shift.

If a family does not have reliable access to the Internet, please notify the student’s teachers or call the school office. Access to technical support and resources are available in the Community Tech Portal. For additional help, email covidtechhelp@psdschools.org or call the student/family support line at 970-490-3339.

Schools and departments are working quickly to adjust to this shift and need a little time. Do not expect further communications from schools until next week.

For more information regarding Poudre School District shifting to Phase 1, visit: https://www.psdschools.org/News/PSDShiftsRemote-Nov23 or to view the new PSD data dashboard, visit: https://www.psdschools.org/psd2020-21/COVID19schoolstatus

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