Health
The health of our students, families, faculty and staff is always a priority.
We support keeping our physical and mental bodies resilient and well not only through illness mitigation measures but by maintaining healthy relationships and connections, getting good sleep, eating nutritiously, dressing appropriately for the weather, getting regular exercise and, of course, by playing!
Illness Policy
Staying Home
PWS requires that students and employees stay home when they are sick. The PWS Communicable Disease Plan applies to all students, employees and visitors of Portland Waldorf School. It contains guidance on communicable disease prevention, symptom and disease exclusion, and outbreak identification and management.
If an individual starts to feel sick at school or believes they have contracted a communicable disease, they should contact attendance@portlandwaldorf.org for school guidance.
All employees and students are expected to stay home from school if experiencing any of the following symptoms:
Fever: a measured temperature equal to or greater than 100.4°F orally.
MAY RETURN AFTER fever-free for 24 hours without taking fever-reducing medicine.
Cough: persistent cough that is not yet diagnosed and cleared by a licensed healthcare provider OR any acute (non-chronic) cough illness that is frequent or severe enough to interfere with participation in usual school activities.
MAY RETURN AFTER symptoms improving for 24 hours (no cough or cough well-controlled.)
Difficulty Breathing or Shortness of Breath not explained by situation such as exercise: feeling unable to catch their breath, gasping for air, breathing too fast or too shallowly, breathing with extra effort such as using muscles of the stomach, chest, or neck.
MAY RETURN AFTER symptoms improving for 24 hours.
This symptom is likely to require immediate medical attention.
New Loss of Taste or Smell
MAY RETURN AFTER symptoms improving for 24 hours.
Headache with Stiff Neck and Fever
MAY RETURN AFTER fever-free for 24 hours without taking fever-reducing medicine AND symptoms resolve.
This combination of symptoms may indicate a serious condition. Individuals are advised to seek medical attention.
Diarrhea: three or more watery or loose stools in 24 hours OR sudden onset of loose stools OR student unable to control bowel function when previously able.
MAY RETURN AFTER 48 hours after diarrhea resolves OR after seen and cleared by a licensed healthcare provider or LPHA for specific diarrheal diagnoses.
Vomiting: at least 1 episode that is unexplained.
MAY RETURN AFTER 48 hours after last episode of vomiting OR after seen and cleared by a licensed healthcare provider.
Skin Rash or Sores: new rash* not previously diagnosed by a health care provider OR rash increasing in size OR new unexplained sores or wounds OR draining rash, sores, or wounds which cannot be completely covered with a bandage and clothing.
MAY RETURN AFTER rash is resolved OR until draining rash, sores or wounds are dry or can be completely covered OR after seen and cleared by a licensed healthcare provider.
*Some individuals have chronic non-infectious skin conditions—e.g., eczema; they need not be excluded for apparent exacerbations of these conditions.
Eye Redness and Drainage: unexplained redness of one or both eyes AND colored drainage from the eyes OR eye irritation accompanied by vision changes OR symptoms such as eye irritation, pain, redness, swelling or excessive tear production that prevent active participation in usual school activities.
MAY RETURN AFTER symptoms resolve OR after seen and cleared by a licensed healthcare provider.
Eye redness alone, without colored drainage, may be considered for attendance per CDC guidelines.
Jaundice: yellowing of the eyes or skin that is new or uncharacteristic.
MAY RETURN AFTER seen and cleared by a licensed healthcare provider.
Behavior Change: may include uncharacteristic lethargy, decreased alertness, confusion, or a behavior change that prevents active participation in usual school activities.
MAY RETURN AFTER symptoms resolve; return to normal behavior OR after seen and cleared by a licensed healthcare provider.
These symptoms may indicate a serious condition. Individuals are advised to seek medical attention.
Major Health Event or Student Requiring More Care than School Staff Can Safely Provide. May include an illness lasting more than two weeks, emergency room treatment or hospital stay, a surgical procedure with potential to affect active participation in school activities, loss of a caregiver or family member, or a new or changed health condition for which school staff is not adequately informed, trained, or licensed to provide care.
MAY RETURN AFTER health and safety are addressed.
Written instructions from a licensed healthcare provider are likely to be required.
Schools must comply with state and federal regulations such as the Americans with Disabilities Act ensuring free and appropriate public education (FAPE). School staff will follow appropriate processes to address reasonable accommodations and school health service provision in accordance with applicable laws.
Restrictable Diseases
Restrictable diseases are specific infectious diseases in Oregon Administrative Rule (OAR) 333-019-0010 that require students or employees to remain at home for a specified amount of time to limit transmission. Clackamas County Public Health Division (CCPHD) must be notified of the infection as soon as it is diagnosed in students or employees.
The following communicable diseases require documentation from the local health department or healthcare provider indicating the individual is no longer communicable prior to returning to school: Chickenpox, COVID-19, Diphtheria, Hepatitis A, Hepatitis E, Measles, Mumps, Pertussis (whooping cough), Rubella, Salmonella enterica stereotype Typhyi infection, Scabies, Shiga-toxigenic E.coli (STEC) infection, Shigellosis, active tuberculosis
Please report to attendance@portlandwaldorf.org if a student has been diagnosed with any of the above.
COVID-19
Updated 5/15/23
In response to the changing COVID-19 environment, PWS has adjusted school protocols as needed to meet state and local requirements and to support the health and wellness of our community
Response to COVID Cases & Symptoms
As of 5/11/23, the five-day period of isolation for those infected with COVID-19 is no longer recommended by Oregon Health Authority (OHA) for Oregon’s general population or people in K-12 schools. Instead, OHA recommends people infected with COVID-19 stay home until they are fever-free for 24 hours with improving symptoms, avoid contact with people at high risk of severe illness and consider masking for 10 days.
PWS will apply its regular communicable disease guidance to COVID-19 as it does to other communicable disease case and symptom reports and may consult with CCPHD and utilize Communicable Disease Guidance for Schools when responding.
Please remember that mild illness for you or your child may be more serious for someone else within our community. People who are immunocompromised, are of a certain age range, or have other underlying health conditions may be at risk of becoming very ill from COVID-19, or being ill for a longer period of time. This applies to people in our community.
Please notify the office of any positive COVID-19 test results or other communicable disease diagnoses or symptoms at attendance@portlandwaldorf.org.
On Campus
Face Coverings
Face coverings are optional indoors and outdoors including during aftercare, athletics, performances and events. OHA and PWS recommend that individuals infected with COVID-19 stay home until they are fever-free for 24 hours with improving symptoms, avoid contact with people at high risk of severe illness and consider wearing a face covering for 10 days.
Carpool drivers may require face coverings at the individual driver’s discretion.
Many students and staff may choose to continue to wear face coverings at school. Every individual has the right to make that decision and PWS will support the continued use of face coverings by individuals and create an environment where individual decisions to wear a face covering are honored.
Face coverings are available at school for students, staff and visitors while supplies last.
Visitors & Volunteers
Visitors to the campus or individual classrooms should check-in at the Main Office or High School Office.
Per OHA and the Oregon educator vaccine requirement OAR 333-019-1030, until 6/17/2023, PWS will continue to require visitors, volunteers or anyone interacting with students (including chaperones and drivers) to provide COVID-19 vaccination information or provide approved/accepted documentation of a medical or religious exception. Please contact Dionne to submit vaccination information.
Per OHA, after 6/17/2023 teachers, school staff and volunteers in Oregon’s private and public education settings will no longer be required to be vaccinated against COVID-19.
Whole Child Health
As Waldorf education is designed for educating the whole child, the social and emotional health of our students are integral parts of this education.
Through this lens, we can readily acknowledge how the two years of social isolation brought about by the world-pandemic affected everyone including our students. Some have developed extreme sensitivity to being around other people, showing impatience, intolerance, or lack of compassion for each other, as well as becoming oblivious to the impact of their own words and actions. Each becomes a victim of the other. These phenomena have resulted in people in a chronic state of “fight or flight,” a state in which any discomfort can cause emotional dysregulation or volatile relationships. It is important to acknowledge that we are, by degree, in a phase of recovery from these world-wide conditions.
Our multidisciplinary, art-based, and experiential curriculum supports and nurtures students’ social and emotional development, which gives them confidence and tools to think critically, creatively, and imaginatively. Through this approach our students will learn how to take ownership in navigating their way in this unknown and challenging world.
Furthermore, we value our community working together to support our students. Understanding each other’s suffering, and consciously generating and maintaining warm relationships are keys to success in this endeavor. If soul warmth is preserved amongst adults, the environment will be filled with authentic connections. Consequently our children will feel safe and will learn and develop optimally. Our teachers and staff are here to support this mutual creation. It is our strong hope that our students will carry their memory of this crisis with strength, confidence, and a sense of belonging. Thank you for being a part of this intentional community.
Vaccine and Immunization
All public and private schools in Oregon, including PWS, follow the Oregon Health Authority Public Health Division requirements for all students PK-12. PWS documents the immunizations of each of our students and reports aggregate data to the Oregon Health Authority.
We encourage our families to consider their social and civic responsibility as members of the greater Portland community when making decisions regarding immunization, and we recognize that the decision to immunize children is one made by parents in consultation with their health care provider.
In the case of an outbreak of disease, the school administration, in consultation with the local health department, has the right to send home children and employees who are susceptible to that disease.
PWS Immunization & Exemption Rates
Oregon State law requires schools to share immunization rates twice each year. For the most recent information, please see below.
More on Exemption
The state provides an opportunity for parents to control the immunization schedule and regime for their individual child, through the Oregon Health Authority as provided in ORS 433.267, and states that in addition to medical exemptions for immunizations, non-medical exemptions can be claimed as follows: A parent claiming a non-medical exemption will be required to turn in both the signed Oregon Certificate of Immunization form AND (1) A certificate from a health care provider documenting that they discussed the benefits and risks of immunizations; OR (2) A certificate documenting that the parent watched an online interactive educational video about immunizations. The official certificates for documentation were developed by the Oregon Health Authority.
Portland Waldorf School abides by state requirements as they pertain to immunization. We also concur that the decision to immunize is a personal one, and that it should be made by parents and their health care providers. While the majority of our parents opt to immunize their children (at least partially), there are some who opt not to include specific immunizations, or to immunize children on a slower schedule than the state code stipulates. When students are partially immunized, or are not immunized by the beginning of the school year, parents must provide the affidavit referenced above.
Portland Waldorf School does all it can to ensure the safety and health of the children in our school. This includes asking parents to immunize their children based on state standards. However, our task is the education of the children entrusted to us for that purpose and we make no claim to being qualified in the realm of medicine. We encourage all parents to consult with their health care provider regarding immunizations.
This link leads to the machine-readable files that are made available in response to the federal Transparency in Coverage Rule and includes negotiated service rates and out-of-network allowed amounts between health plans and healthcare providers. The machine readable files are formatted to allow researchers, regulators, and application developers to more easily access and analyze data.
Health Agencies & Resources
Agencies and Resources
PWS Family Resources
Local Mental Health Resources
Even if you are struggling just a little bit, Clackamas Safe+Strong can help. Email safestrong@clackamas.us or call 503-655-8585. You can schedule free, confidential services at 503-722-6200 from Monday to Friday, 9am to 7pm.
Reach Out Oregon offers many different ways (phone, text, a discussion forum, online Zoom discussion groups) to connect with a community of parents with lived experience of raising children with behavioral, emotional or mental health challenges.
Oregon Family Support Network has family support specialists who can work with you and support you from a position of lived experience raising children with behavioral, emotional or mental health challenges.
If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call or text 988 or chat 988lifeline.org. The 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline is available 24/7 for people experiencing a behavioral health crisis to cal. Calls may be responded to in English or Spanish. Text and online chat are currently only available in English. People can also dial 988 if they are worried about a loved one who may need crisis support.