Dear Saint Paul Public Schools Staff,

Thank you for your continued efforts to keep our students, staff and community as healthy as possible throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. The number of COVID-19 cases in Saint Paul Public Schools and Ramsey County has dropped significantly since the surge caused by the Omicron variant. 

In January, SPPS had 3,260 positive COVID-19 cases reported. In February, the number of positive cases decreased to 416. Vaccination rates have also increased, with over 78% of staff, 62% of students ages 12-17 and 38% of students ages 5-11 having received at least two doses of the vaccine.

Contact Tracing

Due to the significant decline in positive cases, SPPS will no longer conduct contact tracing after March 4, 2022. This means families will not be notified if someone in their student’s class, athletics team, bus or other extracurricular activity has tested positive for COVID-19. Close contacts will not be identified or told to quarantine. 

This change will allow students who have had to quarantine on multiple occasions to remain in school, particularly those who have been disproportionately affected by COVID-19 including students of color, Pre-K students and students receiving special education. 

Families and staff can refer to the COVID-19 dashboard for the latest information about COVID-19 cases in your school and at the district level.

Face Coverings and Other Protocols 

As the CDC and the City of Saint Paul loosen COVID-19 restrictions, SPPS is still requiring face coverings for everyone without a masking exemption at this time. This includes all SPPS transportation to and from all schools, programming and athletics. This requirement will be reviewed by the Board of Education in March and SPPS will send an update to families and staff if there is a change.

Staff are still required to get vaccinated or test weekly. Rapid tests will continue to be available for students and staff with COVID-19 symptoms.  

Isolation Guidelines

Students and staff who are sick should stay home and follow current COVID-19 guidelines. Review the updated COVID-19 Student & Family Guidelines and COVID-19 Employee Workplace Manual for the latest information. Please continue to report positive cases to the SPPS COVID-19 Reporting System. 

SPPS will maintain a 10-day isolation period for students and a 5-day isolation period for staff who test positive for COVID-19. If you have a household member who tests positive, unvaccinated staff and students should quarantine for 10 days. The quarantine period starts the day after symptoms began or testing occurred, whichever is earlier.

Students and staff may return to school after their isolation period IF symptoms are improving or resolved and they are fever free for 24 hours. Students and staff with COVID-19 symptoms who have not been tested must follow the SPPS COVID-19 Exclusion Decision Tree to determine when it is OK to return to school. 

We all share the responsibility of taking care of ourselves and others to minimize the spread of COVID-19. I urge you and your family to get vaccinated when eligible. Vaccines for children ages 6 months to 4 years old will be available soon. SPPS will host vaccine clinics for this age group when available. Find upcoming vaccine clinics at spps.org/covidvaccine.

Thank you for doing your part to keep our community healthy.

Mary Langworthy

Director, Health and Wellness