On Monday evening, ASD-N shared an important message with families regarding a provincial shift in the way schools report confirmed COVID-19 cases. Parents and guardians should check their emails for this message.

Families and staff can also visit the new ASD-N COVID-19 Dashboard on the District website at http://asd-n.nbed.nb.ca/other/covid-19-dashboard. Reported cases and important links can be found here. Information will be updated Monday – Friday.

The update from Superintendent Mark Donovan is included below:

January 17, 2022

Good evening, ASD-N families.

Public Health processes have changed over the past several weeks. With the increasing number of COVID cases, we are following the Public Health assumption that COVID is now present throughout our communities. This also means that it will be present in our schools. Because of that, it is important to continually monitor for symptoms and follow all Public Health directions.

Please note that Public Health will not be confirming positive cases as they did in the past, nor will they be doing contact tracing for school-related cases. As a result, schools will no longer be sending notification messages home to families via School Messenger or voicemail with each self-reported case.

If a student or staff member tests positive with a rapid (POC) test, parents or staff are asked to notify their school principal. In an effort to keep you informed, we want to share whatever information we receive with our school communities.

ASD-N has created a COVID-19 Dashboard on our district website.  We will share any notifications we receive from parents and staff so that they are included in ASD-N Dashboard Reporting.  This reporting will be done Monday – Friday.  It is the responsibility of families and staff to check the Dashboard for reported cases. The Dashboard will list the cases that are reported by date, and indicate the location of the case. Important reference links are also included with the Dashboard. If you would like to be informed of cases that get reported to schools, you can check the ASD-N website for notifications here.

It is important to note that the information posted to the ASD-N COVID-19 Dashboard is not official data from Public Health; it is the information that schools receive from families and staff who notify them. For that reason, we do not have 100% certainty that numbers are reflective of all actual cases.

We ask that you please continue to follow all Public Health directions. A copy of the Bulletin for Parents or Guardians re: COVID Exposures in Schools is attached for you, for your reference – this bulletin outlines important information to follow when positive cases are confirmed. Notifications will not be sent with each case that is self-reported, so please keep this bulletin on hand. This bulletin is also available on the ASD-N COVID-19 Dashboard.

Again, continually monitoring for symptoms is the most important step to practice.  We are making the assumption that COVID is present throughout our communities and schools, and following the attached information will allow us to continue with our daily lives while respecting Public Health directions.

Thank you for your continued cooperation and support.

Mark Donovan

Superintendent

ASD-N