Salem Schools Stress Attendance, While 'COVID Is Still With Us'

SALEM, MA — While allowing that "COVID is still with us" and urging families to keep home students, if they are sick, Salem Superintendent Steve Zrike stressed the importance of good attendance to start the school year as the district continues to try to make up ground lost during the coronavirus health crisis in 2020 and 2021.

"The COVID virus is still circulating in our community," Zrike said in his Facebook Live session with families this week. "We want to remind parents to keep their children home from school if they are feeling unwell with respiratory systems or have a fever. We continue to recommend COVID testing for people who are not feeling well and ask all members of the community to follow isolation guidelines (if testing positive)."

Zrike said the schools are no longer providing COVID testing and that all of the tests the district had are expired. He said any students who test positive for COVID should stay home for five days and until symptoms subside, then mask at school for another five days once they are fever-free without the use of medication for 24 hours.

He said students and faculty are encouraged to mask if they choose at all times during the school year.

"We do know that people are going to get ill as we move into the fall and winter season," he said. "Stay in touch with your school nurse."

For those who are not sick, however, Zrike said it is important that they go to school with September being Attendance Awareness Month.

"We certainly don't want kids to come to school when they are sick, and when they do not feel well and have a fever," Zrike said. "But other than that we want your kids in school every day. We think one of the reasons there has been such a gap in learning, and we know it's been one of the reasons, is that attendance has waned since the pandemic and during the pandemic.

"Students missed a lot of time. Now it's really critical that students are in school. Building trusting relationships around students and families promotes our core value of belonging, which is fundamental to attendance."

He asked that any family that is having attendance issues not related to illness contact their school for support.

"We know that sometimes students don't come to school for other reasons and we want to know about it," Zrike said. "It could be because of bullying. It could be because of a transportation issue. It could be an issue of access to food, nutrition or clothing.

"We want to be supportive because we want your child in school each and every day, on time, ready to learn other than when they are sick."

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at [email protected]. X/Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)