Farrell B. Howell ECE-8 School

Health Updates

07/18/22, 4:48 PM

Good Evening Howell Families,

I wanted to take a moment this evening to provide you with some important updates regarding our district's COVID-19 guidelines and how they could impact your student at Howell:

  • Most importantly, if you student is experiencing any COVID-19 symptoms please keep them home and call our Attendance Line at 720-424-2770 to notify our office team.
    • I strongly encourage you to get your student tested for COVID-19 if they are experiencing any symptoms; in addition to our excellent community resources below, we can now accept negative results from the at-home rapid antigen tests. If you do administer an at-home COVID-19 test to your student please make sure to follow the directions included with the kit exactly to avoid false results.
      • There are two recommended ways for your student to get evaluated for COVID-19 at absolutely no cost to you:
        • Make an appointment with Denver Health's School-based Health Centers (SBHC) by calling 303-602-8958.
        • Get a drive through COVID test through the State of Colorado. Make your appointment online at https://www.primarybio.com/l/cdphe.
      • Also, order your family FREE at-home rapid test kits from the following resources:
  • If your student tests negative for COVID-19 they can return to school as long as they have been without a fever (and not using fever-reducing medications) for 24 hours prior to their return.
  • If you student tests positive for COVID-19 please notify me at 720-424-2746 and I'll give you specific guidelines on when they may return to school.

When I am notified of positive cases of COVID within our school I will continue to identify possible close contacts from classrooms and lunch so that I can notify families of those students who would will need to quarantine.

There are several ways a student can avoid having to quarantine after a routine exposure at school:

  • If your student is fully vaccinated against COVID-19 (including a booster if they are due for one) and without symptoms they do NOT need to quarantine.
  • If your student has had a confirmed case of COVID-19 within the last 90 days and without symptoms they do NOT need to quarantine.
  • If your student consistently wears their mask over their nose and mouth the entire day, they were not an exposure at lunch, and they are without symptoms they do NOT need to quarantine.

Please know that in the event your student is exposed, I will evaluate the entire situation thoroughly to ensure we are only quarantining those students who absolutely must. Getting vaccinated and boosted is the best way to help protect your student, your family, and avoid quarantines as we see cases in our school.

If you student is due for their COVID vaccine I encourage you to come to our next vaccination clinic:

Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) will be at Farrell B. Howell ECE-8 School on Tuesday, February 8th from 1 PM to 7 PM providing COVID-19 vaccines and boosters to anyone age 5 or older.
Make an appointment* for those age 5 to 11 here: https://www.comassvax.org/appointment/en/reg/9128639049  (Formulario de registro en español.)
Parents/guardians can make an appointment for children 5-11 below; anyone age 12 or older must walk-in and complete paperwork at the event.

Please call or email if you have any questions about the guidelines or how we are working to ensure the safety of every student here at Howell,

RICHARD RUTHERSBY, BSN, RN, NCSN
School Nurse, Farrell B. Howell ECE-8 School
14250 Albrook Dr, Denver, CO 80239
p 720-424-2746 | f 720-424-2765 | howell.dpsk12.org