COVID-19 Information

Face Coverings

A cloth or paper mask, scarf, bandana, gaiter or religious face covering that covers the mouth and nose. Whichever you choose, please ensure that there are two layers of fabric. If you are wearing a gaiter/bandana with only one layer, please fold it over to create two layers. Gaiters/bandanas are not recommended.

Face Shields

Only a clear face shield that extends below the chin in the front, to the ears on the sides and with no gap between the forehead and the headpiece may be used in certain specific circumstances.

Face Covering Does not Mean

• Any mask or other item that includes a valve, hole, gaps or openings to facilitate easier breathing, or is made of a mesh material.
• Safety goggles that cover only the eyes or only the eyes and nose.
• A face shield

Face Covering is Required

• Whenever I am indoors in all RPS buildings.
• When I am outdoors in situations where social distancing cannot be maintained.
• On all RPS buses and vans.

Face Covering is not Required

• When I am eating or drinking, as long as social distancing is maintained.
• When I am outside, as long as social distancing is maintained.
• When I am participating in indoor activities involving playing musical instruments (if the instrument cannot be played while wearing a face covering), as long as social distancing is maintained.
• If I cannot tolerate a face covering due to a developmental, medical or behavioral health condition and a medical exemption has been approved for me.
• If I have an IEP/504 and am receiving specialized instruction or service where wearing a face covering is problematic, as long as social distancing is maintained.

How to Make Your Mask More Comfortable

• If it bothers your ears, you can get a headband with buttons, a plastic “ear-saver” or hook it around pigtails.
• You can purchase a mask that ties in the back of the head instead of looping over the ears.
• If your mask doesn’t fit tightly enough, try tying a knot in each ear strap. 
• If your glasses fog up when wearing the mask, try folding a small piece of tissue and setting it between your nose and the top of the mask.

Care & Disposal

• Never share or trade your face covering with someone else!
• Make sure you have a safe place to put your face covering when you take it off outside or to eat or drink so that it does not get mixed up with someone else’s.
• The same face covering can be worn throughout the school day unless it becomes dirty or wet, in which case it should be replaced with a new, clean one.
• Masks should be washed each day. You can put in the regular laundry on the warmest appropriate setting for the type of cloth or hand wash it with soap and hot water, then hang it to dry overnight.
• Used disposable masks should be thrown away.

Exemptions

• Individuals with a medical condition, mental health condition or disability that makes it unreasonable to maintain a face covering.
• Children who are under 2-years-old should never wear a face covering.

Exemption Process

Students who cannot tolerate a face covering due to a developmental, medical or behavioral health condition may be exempt from wearing a face covering. An exemption form must be signed by a parent/guardian and a medical authority. A medical authority includes a medical doctor, psychiatrist, clinical psychologist, physician assistant or nurse practitioner (a person licensed to write prescriptions in Minnesota). The most common accommodation would be to wear a face shield instead. 

Additional Information

• Download a PDF of this Student Guide to Face Coverings (English) (Spanish)
• How to Wear A Mask (Minnesota Department of Health) (English) (Spanish)
• View School Board Policy 548: COVID-19 Face Covering
• Face Covering Waiver Form

At School

At Richfield Public Schools, we are implementing passive health screening. Passive health screening is one option for student health screens on arrival at school that is approved by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). This screening allows students and staff to efficiently and safely enter school spaces and engage in learning.  

Visual and verbal screens will occur as students enter the classroom and throughout the day by teachers and staff. Students who appear and/or report being ill will be isolated in a designated school area for further assessment, following guidelines from the Minnesota Department of Health and Hennepin County Epidemiology.

At Home

Before your child leaves for school, we are asking parents/guardians to take their child’s temperature and confirm that they do not have any of the more common symptoms:  fever of 100.4 F or higher, new onset and/or worsening of a cough, difficulty breathing, new loss of taste or smell, or any other of the following symptoms associated with COVID-19 or had close contact (within 6 feet of an infected person for at least 15 minutes) with a person with confirmed COVID-19. Note that any of these less common COVID-19 symptoms alone or in combination may be a sign of COVID-19 or another illness.

• Sore throat
• Nausea, vomiting, diarrhea
• Chills  
• Muscle pain
• Excessive fatigue
• New onset of severe headache
• New onset of nasal congestion or runny nose

Make a visual inspection of your child for signs of illness which could include flushed cheeks, difficulty breathing, rapid breathing (without recent physical activity), or fatigue.

If these or any other illness symptoms are present, do not send your child to school.

Additional Information from the Minnesota Department of Health

• Home Screening Tool for COVID-19 Symptoms (PDF) 
• COVID-19 Attendance Guide for Parents and Families (PDF)