BICS Adaptive COVID-19 Response Plan; General Masking Requirement Off (for now) Friday

Beaver Island Community School

BICS Adaptive COVID Response Plan 2022

Effective 12:00 am, Friday, February 18, 2022

Beaver Island Community School is committed to providing high-quality face-to-face in-person instruction while keeping our students safe and complying with applicable laws. This adaptive response plan serves as the BICS policy regarding the remainder of the school year in the context of the recent decision by the Health Department of Northwest Michigan (HDNW) to rescind the Emergency Health Order requiring masks in school. Beaver Island Community School will adhere to the following plan as we continue the 2021-2022 school year.

The purpose of this adaptive response plan is to allow BICS to be able to adapt to rapid changes in the COVID-19 situation based on COVID cases in Michigan as a whole, in Northwest Michigan, on Beaver Island, and in the school population. To ensure changes from one level to another can be made in the most expeditious and non-political manner, this plan authorizes the superintendent, in consultation with HDNW and the Beaver Island Rural Health Center (BIRHC) to determine movement between levels. In summary, this adaptive response plan has three levels:

1.     Standard (Green) Level—The Standard Level involves the continuation of standard mitigatory measures (e.g., cohorting, social distancing, cleaning, parent screening), adhering to HDNW testing and quarantine guidelines, and supporting individuals who choose to wear protective facial coverings. Masking is recommended but not required except for when students and staff are working in close proximity (less than three feet).

2.     Precautionary (Yellow) Level—The Precautionary Level would involve the same ongoing mitigatory measures as the Standard Level, with the addition of requiring wearing facial coverings at all times in the building other than when students are sitting at their desks in a socially-distanced classroom. In other words, students and staff will wear masks when in common areas, when the entire student body is gathered indoors, and during community events held at the school, etc. All parents and guests would be required to wear masks when in the building.

3.     Protective (Red) Level—The Protective Level would involve the same ongoing mitigatory measures as the Standard Level, with the requirement that masks be worn by all K-12 students, ALL staff members, and all parents. Only parents and those with essential work (e.g., contractors) would be allowed in the building. 

In making the decision to move from one level to another, in consultation with the HDNW and BIRHC, the superintendent will consider a variety of factors, including COVID-19 case rates at the national, state, regional and local (on-island) scale, proximity of cases to the school population, emergence of a new variant and its potential threat to the student population, vaccination rates, timing (e.g., proximity to a break when students or staff may be travelling). Due to both the ever-changing nature of the COVID-19 virus and range of factors to be considered, there are no “set” metrics to trigger going from one level to another. By approving this policy, the BICS BOE hereby authorizes and will support all decisions made by the superintendent regarding in which level BICS will operate.