Dear AAPS Families, Students, and Staff, 
We hope you have had a healthy and enjoyable holiday break! We are excited to welcome students and staff back from winter break on Monday.
As we return to school in 2023, our continued priority is the health and safety of our students and staff; we are working together to reduce the risk of classroom and school exposures to illness. We all share the goal of preserving and prioritizing every school day for important in-person teaching and learning by lowering the numbers of staff and student absences this winter.
Today, Washtenaw County continues in the CDC’s Community Level Medium for COVID. Influenza and other respiratory illnesses continue to circulate in our community.
Let’s work together in the AAPS to ensure a successful start to 2023.
We strongly urge families, students and staff to take the following steps to keep classrooms and schools open and prevent the spread of illness in our schools.
- Wear a tightly-fitting mask while indoors for the first two weeks of school following return from winter break, Jan. 9 - 20. Extra masks are available at all school buildings for use by students and staff.
- Keep your student(s) home, if experiencing respiratory symptoms, a fever, or vomiting/diarrhea. See When to Keep a Child Home from School Due to Illness.
- If your child is diagnosed with COVID, RSV, or influenza, please report their case to your school so that we may better understand the illnesses circulating in our AAPS school communities. (For COVID, report the case using this form and follow isolation guidance.)
For support with questions about sending your student to school, or any of these illnesses, please contact your health care provider or your school nurse.
Reminder: there’s still time to get a flu shot and COVID booster, if you haven’t already. Flu shots are recommended for everyone ages 6 months and older. The Pfizer bivalent booster is authorized for those 5 years and older who are 2+ months past their last COVID vaccine or booster dose.
Together, we can make this a healthy and strong start as we return to school to begin 2023.
Yours in health,
Jeanice K. Swift, PhD
Superintendent of Schools
Jenna Bacolor, MPH, LMSW
Executive Director
Student and School Health and Community Division
