Closure Protocols and Reporting

The Bellevue School District has established closure protocols in accordance with guidelines from the Washington State Department of Health and Public Health – Seattle & King County. When a positive case of COVID-19 is discovered in the school setting, BSD alerts Public Health – Seattle & King County and trained district staff members conduct contact tracing. Read more about BSD contact tracing on our website.

Members of the school learning community will be notified when someone who tested positive for COVID-19 was in person in a school setting during their infectious period.

Class Quarantine Protocols:

Elementary

If a person tests positive for COVID-19 in the school building, trained staff will lead contact tracing. All close contacts of someone who tests positive with COVID-19 will be informed and sent home to quarantine for 14 days.

If two people in your student’s assigned class group test positive for COVID-19 within a two-week period, this class group would quarantine at home and return to remote instruction for a two-week period.

Secondary

School Closure Protocols:

The BSD COVID-19 Coordinator will consult with Public Health – Seattle & King County to determine when schools need to close for quarantine, using guidance from the Washington State Department of Health. They will review data including number of outbreaks in the school, the number of cases in the building, if the number of cases is increasing quickly, etc.

What is an ‘outbreak’ of COVID-19?

An outbreak is defined by the Washington State Department of Health as two or more laboratory positive (PCR or antigen) COVID-19 cases among students or staff within a 14-day period. The people who tested positive do not share a household and were not close contacts of each other in another setting.

The Vision of the Bellevue School District is to affirm and inspire each and every student to learn and thrive as creators of their future world.