2021-22 School Year
Members of the leadership team and the healthcare professionals on our Safe Schools Committee meet regularly to help make key decisions for our community. We also solicit input from peer schools and review the latest guidance for schools from King County, the WA State Department of Health and other regulators to assess our protocols.
>> Questions about health and safety? Please email [email protected] and a member of the leadership team will get back to you.
This page last updated March 30, 2022.
All Bertschi’s employees are fully-vaccinated against COVID-19, and 98% have received a booster.
All eligible current Bertschi School students are required to receive both doses of the COVID-19 vaccine when eligible unless they have a documented medical or religious exemption. Philosophical exemptions are allowed until the Pfizer vaccine is fully-authorized by the FDA, or until the start of the 2022-23 school year, whichever occurs first. Check the COVID-19 dashboard for the latest vaccination rates.
All other adults visiting campus must show proof of vaccination if they plan to be indoors at any time. Additionally, Bertschi Summer Exploration camps will require vaccination for all eligible children, and will only allow documented medical and religious exemptions.
All eligible students applying to Bertschi for fall 2022 must meet the vaccination requirement.
Beginning Monday, March 7, 2022 masks are optional outdoors.
Beginning Monday, March 21, 2022 masks are optional indoors.
We recognize that there are members of our community who remain at risk, who live with at-risk individuals, or who have reasons to need to protect themselves particularly by masking. We encourage all families to make the right decision for themselves and will continue to respectfully support the decisions made.
We currently do weekly onsite pooled COVID-19 testing of students, and rapid testing of symptomatic individuals. Families may opt in or out of pool testing. We also often do extra testing after school breaks.
If an individual has a confirmed close contact exposure to COVID-19, we use the Test to Stay protocol.
Distancing is promoted to the extent possible in indoor and outdoor spaces. Students eat snack and lunch in outdoor spaces at six feet distancing whenever possible.
Frequent hand washing and sanitizing will be part of the school day. Learning spaces feature the following:
Students eat snack and lunch in outdoor spaces at six feet distancing whenever possible.
The ventilation in all learning spaces has been optimized using the following measures:
Students with one or more COVID-19 symptoms should stay home. Notify [email protected] for next steps. We follow the WA DOH guidance for symptomatic individuals when it comes to COVID-19 symptoms, in addition to other school policies around testing. If your child begins exhibiting any COVID-19 symptoms while at school, the main office will contact you for immediate pick up and next steps, including offering on-site testing.
Please note:
Classrooms, bathrooms, and all common areas throughout campus are cleaned and disinfected thoroughly on a regular, and often daily, basis after school by the facilities and custodial staff. This includes disinfecting all classroom surfaces and bathrooms using electrostatic sprayers and vacuuming carpets. Teachers are also required to perform the following daily cleaning in all classroom spaces:
Our quarantine and isolation protocols align with the CDC's latest update and King County Department of Health, with a few additional requirements.
Quarantine for Close Contacts
If a student is unvaccinated or partially-vaccinated and they have come into close contact with someone with COVID-19, they can either quarantine for five days after their last close contact or participate in our test to stay program.
Students, faculty, and staff who come into close contact with someone with COVID-19 do not need to quarantine if they are in any one of the following groups:
Isolation for Individuals with COVID-19
All individuals with COVID-19 need to isolate for at least five days, regardless of symptoms. For students, faculty, and staff who test positive for COVID-19 and never develop symptoms:
For students, faculty, and staff who have COVID-19 and have or had symptoms:
An administrator will provide specific guidance to each individual on isolation period, when to test, and to clear their return when all criteria have been met.
*Proof of negative result from a rapid test administered at home are acceptable, or on-campus testing can be provided by appointment.
Beginning Monday, March 7, students participating in extended day and clubs will mix grade levels and use both indoor and outdoor spaces.
If your student is fully-vaccinated, they do not need to quarantine or test following travel.
If your student travels through a travel hub (such as an airport or train station) and is not fully-vaccinated:
Students who travel out of state by car or other form of private/personal transportation will not need to quarantine or test.
Please note that destination is also a factor in weighing the relative risks of travel. Travel to areas where vaccination rates are low and/or COVID-19 rates are high could place an unvaccinated individual at risk regardless of whether the travel involved a hub. We ask that families be vigilant regardless of where they travel in order to protect themselves and our community.
All Bertschi School families and faculty/staff are required to sign our Community Health & Safety Pledge and Acknowledgement of Risk form. To view the pledge, view the Parent Resources page on the website Parent Portal.
Click here to read FAQs about the Community Health & Safety Pledge.
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