COVID-19 Updates

Lower School girl in classroom wearing a mask

St. Mark's Cathedral School is closely monitoring all updates regarding COVID-19 and is committed to the well-being of our community. Please visit this page for information on this dynamic situation. We will continue to send updates to our families via email as needed.

Personal tours are available to prospective families by appointment.

Current Situation & Plans

Updated August 18, 2021

Governor Edwards has imposed a mask mandate which explicitly includes all school employees and all school children from kindergarten to 12th grade, regardless of vaccine status. St. Mark’s will fully comply with that mandate as long as it is in effect. While Preschool children are not required to mask, we do ask that they come to school with a mask so that they can be masked in certain situations. Preschool parents who wish their children to be masked throughout the day need to let their teacher know, and we will make every effort to meet that request.

When the mandate is lifted, we will determine what masking protocols we need to adopt. All unvaccinated employees of the school will be masked whenever in the presence of any other person until further notice.

With regard to other COVID-19 protocols, the following policies and procedures will be in effect at the start of school; we very much hope that many of these may be modified as the situation changes over the course of the year.

Parents will be asked to sign the Health and Wellness Policy which outlines our expectations of symptom screening prior to arrival at school.
All persons will sanitize hands upon arrival at school and throughout the day.
All students will be dropped off at carpool or escorted to the front door by a parent; parents will not enter the building at drop-off and pick-up.
Parents will be allowed in the building when they have an appointment and a purpose for being at school. We will make efforts to create appropriate opportunities for parents to see their children’s classrooms and meet their teachers.
Each grade will be considered a single cohort, and every effort will be made to prevent the mingling of cohorts when inside the building unless adequate social distance can be maintained (e.g. Chapel in the Cathedral). Please note that cohorts will be mingled in ASM. We will make additional efforts at masking and social distancing and other mitigation efforts for ASM students.
Each division will work to create schedules and procedures to limit excessive congregation in halls.
Lunch will be eaten in classrooms or outside.
In addition to the above, please keep in mind that the school does have bi-polar ionization in our HVAC system for the purpose of killing viruses and bacteria in the air, and we will continue appropriate cleaning and sanitizing mitigation efforts.

Parent Involvement at School

We know parents want to feel a part of the school community and have the opportunity to participate in activities with their children. Although such opportunities will likely remain more limited than we would like, we do plan the following:

We will hold special events and gatherings outside, as practical, until the situation allows for indoor events.
We had planned to allow parents to attend divisional Chapels but will wait until after Labor Day to determine whether we can move forward with that plan. Allowing parents to attend Chapel remains a top priority. This may be easier with Big School students, whose chapel services occur in the Cathedral, where we have plenty of room for social distance.
Preschool parents may participate in birthday celebrations with their children as long they are outside.

Isolation, Close Contact & Quarantine

Any child or adult who tests positive for Covid must inform the school and must isolate for ten days after onset of symptoms and be fever-free without fever-reducing medications for 24 hours.

Close contact occurs when an individual has spent 15 minutes inside of social distance (think of it as breathing the same air) within a 24-hour period with a person who is found to have been Covid-positive. Being on opposite sides of the room while masked with a Covid-positive person would not be close contact. Sitting beside that person on a couch while watching television or playing video games would be close contact.

Individuals are contagious for 48 hours prior to onset of symptoms or a positive Covid test in the case of asymptomatic individuals.

Individuals who have had close contact with a Covid-positive person must quarantine for ten days. The following exceptions or modifications apply:

Vaccinated individuals do not have to quarantine.
Unvaccinated individuals who have a negative Covid test on day five after exposure and have no symptoms on day seven may end quarantine at that time.
In the event the Covid test is positive, then you must isolate for ten days. Quarantine days do not count toward isolation.

Quarantine only applies if you have had direct contact with someone who has tested positive. Individuals who have been in contact with someone else who had close contact are not required to quarantine.

LSUHSC COVID-19 Testing Program

The school will offer a voluntary program of COVID-19 testing through the LSUHSC Covid Strike Team. Offering regular testing and identifying asymptomatic Covid-positive children will be extremely helpful in limiting spread and keeping all of the St. Mark’s community healthy.

Children who are signed up by their parents will receive a weekly Covid test. LSUHC will send a team to administer the testing according to a schedule that we will help establish. Parents will be informed of a positive test. Because this is part of a research study, participants are paid $25 for the first test and $10 for each additional test. Testing will begin after Labor Day.

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