Schools adjust COVID-19 policies

Aug. 18—With the Alabama Department of Public Health's shift from crisis response to disease management due to the availability of testing, vaccination, and treatment, the Limestone County School and Athens City School systems have shifted their COVID-19 response to match the recommendations of the ADPH and Center for Disease Control.

To maintain the safety of those in Limestone County Schools, if you are exposed to COVID-19 you are advised to wear a well-fitting mask and get tested, but per latest CDC guidelines, you do not need to quarantine.

You are also advised to watch for COVID-19 symptoms, including but not limited to fever or chills, cough or shortness of breath, fatigue, aches, or congestion.

If you test positive for COVID-19, you must isolate for five full days from day zero, which is symptom onset or the day you test positive. After day five, your isolation can end if you have been fever free for 24 hours and your symptoms have improved.

You are asked to wear a well-fitted mask through day 10 after a positive test or symptoms onset.

According to the ACS COVID-19 policy, "a COVID-19 positive test result will be excused as a 'doctor's note' only with documentation of the positive test results from a healthcare provider or test center. All other COVID-19 related absences will be considered a 'Parent Note.'"

Students in ACS are permitted to be absent from school due to illness five days per semester, so long as the illness is verified by parents upon the student's return to school.

Any absence for illness beyond five days during a semester must be confirmed by a physician's document in order for the absence to be excused. Otherwise, absences beyond five will be considered unexcused.

Limestone County students are permitted to be absent for personal illness for 10 days per year without a doctor's excuse.

Masks remain optional on campuses, buses and at school sponsored events in both the Limestone County and Athens City school systems.