Dear PCA Families,

Congratulations! Week one of the 2020-21 school year is in the books, and we could not be more pleased! We are so thankful for your partnership in this educational journey this year, whether you are online or in-person.

The sign of a healthy school is continuous assessment and adjustment as necessary. I want to assure you that as a school, PCA does this in all areas. This year, we will make adjustments in the area of health and safety as needs arise. One of those adjustments is the need to better identify if and when your student should remain home from school or go home during the day.

We understand that many students suffer from seasonal allergies, asthma, and other conditions. In the future, we want to have a record in our offices for students who deal with such issues. If you didn’t report items such as these on your data verification form filled out this August, please contact either the elementary or secondary office via email to do so, or provide a doctor’s note that we can keep on file. To reach the elementary office, please email Melissa.Warmbier@plymouthchristian.org. To reach the secondary office, please email Jeanne.Grueber@plymouthchristian.org.

Before your student comes to school each day, we ask you to assess their health by running through a simple series of symptom checks. It is important for you to filter this symptom check through the lens of whether their symptoms (if they have any) are new or unusual. For example, if you know that your child suffers from allergies in the fall and their nose has been running for days, that would be considered normal. But if they wake up with a runny nose and body aches, that would be unusual. It’s the new and unusual, or worsening signs that indicate they need to stay home.

To assist you in this effort, we are sharing with permission a graphic that was produced by the Washington University School of Medicine. To download and print this graphic, please click HERE.

Please go through the symptom list each morning with each of your students, preschool through 12th grade. Please follow the prompts on this decision tree to determine whether your child should come to school or not. If they are not attending, please contact the appropriate office to report their absence. Absences based on this screening tool will not be counted against your student. Please note that we will also continue to provide temperature checks at the entrance each morning for your students.

Thank you so much for working together with us to keep PCA healthy and on campus this fall!

Educating for Eternity,

Caryn Huntsman, Superintendent