Dear PCDS Community Members, 

First, and most importantly, we send our thoughts and well wishes to our friends, neighbors and community members impacted by the Parley’s Canyon Fire. We will continue to monitor the situation carefully, and update you should the fire force any changes in our planned start to the school year.

Second, we would like to provide an update on COVID-19 and our protocols as we return to school. The PCDS COVID Task Force met late last week to review our approach, and provided an additional review to our Board of Trustees. While very little has changed in our guidance from previous updates, we would like to provide additional context and information based on some of the questions and feedback we have received from parents. 

 

 

Our approach is grounded in the commitment to prioritize health and safety for our entire community based on the guidance of local, state and federal health experts. Specifically, we have adopted the protocols from the Utah Department of Health School Guidelines.  

We have also consulted, and are relying heavily upon, the CDC Guidance for Schools. 

 

We have also been in contact with Summit County Health Department, however, they are not issuing specific guidance for schools. Instead, they are deferring to the UDOH and CDC. SCHD is a crucial asset in helping us understand the local COVID conditions affecting PCDS, especially with regards to vaccination and transmission rates and trends in Park City. As you likely recall, SCHD took a responsible and aggressive approach to COVID early on, imposing restrictions sooner, and more comprehensively, than in most other parts of Utah. We trust their expertise as health professionals to provide additional restrictions or guidance if and when necessary, and will remain in frequent contact with their office.

 

In addition to basing our protocols on the above, we have committed to a least restrictive environment approach, in which we create a school experience that is as "normal" as we safely can. However, our desire for “normal” will never override appropriate safety precautions.

 

Finally, it is our hope to guide PCDS through these final stretches of the pandemic in a manner that protects and preserves our community. We must not allow differences of opinion to polarize or fracture our community. We must hear and empathize with differing viewpoints, while also holding steady to what is best for PCDS and our community. As a whole, we can use this challenge as an opportunity to build community and foster our Five Values of respect, responsibility, integrity, teamwork, and compassion with all stakeholders. Read More...