COVID-19 Protocols Outlined In Vestavia Schools For New Semester

VESTAVIA HILLS, AL — A new semester began this week for students in Alabama's schools, and with that, school leaders have had to take into consideration the rise in COVID-19 cases statewide amid the spread of the omicron variant.

Vestavia Hills City Schools, which began the school year as the only system in the Birmingham metro that did not require face coverings or masks for students and staff, did briefly switch to a mask order midway through the fall semester, but as cases dropped, made masks optional again. The system starts the new semester with the same option.

The system will, however, keep certain safety protocols in place.

"Our Health and Wellness Plan continues to emphasize the importance of ventilation systems, cleaning and disinfecting, and physical distancing where practical," superintendent Todd Freeman said in an announcement Monday. "To begin the semester, we will not allow visitors in school cafeterias and will observe reduced capacities in those spaces. In addition, we will have no indoor school-wide assemblies."

Freeman said parents will continue to receive a notification letter if their student has a potential exposure to someone who has a known positive COVID-19 diagnosis. Students who receive a letter for a potential exposure may remain in school as long as they do not have COVID symptoms or test positive.

Absences for exposure or other COVID-related reasons are excused, Freeman said.

According to the Alabama Department of Public Health, fewer than five cases of COVID-19 were reported among students in the Vestavia Hills school system before the winter break.