West Fargo Public Schools Make Change to COVID Quarantine Requirement

(West Fargo, ND) -- Changes are being made to the West Fargo Public Schools absence protocols.

In a letter to families sent out Thursday evening, the District announced that the North Dakota Department of Health has announced they will no longer have to verify a student's absence for exposure to COVID-19 off-campus. 

The letter reads:

"When the ND Department of Health notifies the district of a positive case within a student or staff member, contact tracing is not completed by the district or by NDDoH. Rather, everyone in class with the positive case receives an exposure notice from the district. If a family wishes to keep their student home after receiving an exposure notice from the district, that can be accommodated through the district’s existing attendance policy. These voluntary absences associated with an exposure notice would be considered excused absences until the student falls within “chronically absent status,” which is less than 90% attendance."

The West Fargo School District is the only in the F-M area to not mandate masks in classrooms, while other districts like Fargo and Moorhead require them indoors.