Classroom Size (Capacity)

In order to maintain necessary physical distancing, classrooms will be capped at X students per classroom (…which represents a reduction of X students per classroom). In addition, space previously used for administrative work (…or commons space) will be converted to classrooms. Faculty and staff have been limited in order to ensure adequate space is available for everyone, while still maintaining physical distancing requirements.

Capacity may be altered due to physical space, PPE availability, local medical availability, or safe transportation.

Physical distancing protocols and procedures

Physical Distancing During Arrival And Dismissal

We will have staggered start times by specific groups, with oldest children arriving first. Younger siblings of older students will arrive at the older student’s time. Arrival will begin at 07:30 am and conclude by 9:00 am, with 10-minute intervals between groups.

The schedule will be followed in reverse for dismissal, with the youngest children leaving first and oldest leaving last. Older siblings of younger students will depart at the younger student’s time.
Student health screenings will take place outside the building. Parents and guardians must remain with students until students are cleared to enter the building.
Floor and sidewalk indicators will be installed to help parents and students maintain 6-foot physical distancing during arrival. Various signage and floor markings will be placed around the school to serve as reminders to distance from one another. Arrow decals will be placed to support one-way traffic patterns within the building where possible.

We will also install signage to remind all building occupants to proper use of face masks, hand hygiene practices, respiratory hygiene and cough etiquette, how to properly store and discard PPE, adherence to physical distancing guidelines and procedures for reporting symptoms of or exposure to COVID-19.

All students and faculty will use the stairs to enter and exit the building. The elevators will only be used for ADA purposes.

Indoors

In order to accommodate all students in a physically distanced setting, common areas and rooms previously used for different instructional needs (administrative offices) will be repurposed for use as classrooms.

Students will have limited access to physical spaces and their movements from one space to another will be limited. Except to go outside and visit the restroom, students will remain in their designated classroom space.
Hallways, stairs, passages, and walkways will be marked as one- way, or separated two-way traffic in all passages.

Bathroom use will be managed to ensure safe distancing, with no more than two students per time allowed in the bathrooms.

For students that nap, cots will be placed a minimum of six feet apart, and farther whenever possible. A cot and set of sheets will be assigned to each napping student to reduce the possibility of cross-contamination. Children will also be placed in head to toe positions.

Individual faculty workstations will be established with proper physical distancing in mind and will be equipped with cleaning and disinfecting supplies. Faculty will be required to clean and disinfect all surfaces when they are done using a workstation.

PPE And Face Coverings Protocols

All parents and guardians accompanying a student to school must be wearing masks during arrival and dismissal.

Staff and students will be required to wear masks while inside school buildings, except while eating, napping (for younger students) and during supervised mask breaks.

During mask breaks, staff and students will be required to maintain at least six feet physical distancing. When weather permits, mask breaks will be scheduled outdoors.

Contractors and vendors entering the building will be required to complete a COVID-19 symptoms screen and wear a mask while in the facility.

Operational Activity

Due to physical distancing constraints, students will be accommodated on campus in an alternating 2-week pattern. Group A will receive on-campus instruction 3 days week 1, and 2 days week 2. Group B will receive on-campus instruction 2 days week 1, and 3 days week 2.

A live remote option is available for students on days when on-campus instruction is not scheduled. In addition families who prefer the remote option or have children that are in a “high-risk” category as deemed by the CDC, may utilize the remote option 5 days a week. This live remote option will enable a student to connect live with his/her class, participating remotely in class activities.

Building Access

To minimize exposure, only staff, faculty and children will be permitted into our building. No accompanying family member or guardian will be allowed to enter the facility.

No visitors, except essential contractors and vendors, will be permitted in the building.

Events, assemblies and parent-teacher conferences will all be held remotely.

All deliveries will be placed in a designated area near or just inside the entrance to the school.

All admissions activity will be virtual until it is safe to allow visitors into the building.

Staff are strongly encouraged to bring their own lunch or have their lunch delivered. Staff may leave the building during the day, but are strongly encouraged to avoid crowded areas, and to continue to follow physical distancing and mask protocols at all times.

Student Movement and Access

Students will have limited access to physical spaces other than their assigned classroom, outdoor spaces and the restrooms, and their movements from one space to another will also be limited. Most learning will take place in one limited area and, except to visit the restroom, students will remain in their designated classroom space.

Field Trips

All field trips are suspended until further notice.

Restart of operations

Normal HVAC preventative maintenance has been performed, prior to reopening, to ensure systems are fully functional at the desired thresholds. Additionally, water systems have been inspected and thoroughly flushed prior to reopening.

HVAC systems have been upgraded to comply with CDC and ASHRAE guidelines, including:
- Air changes have been increased to a target goal of 12-15 per hour, depending on humidity and outdoor air quality levels.
- Natural ventilation usage has been increased. Windows will remain open (outdoor weather permitting) to take advantage of natural ventilation. Additionally, HVAC systems have been adjusted to ensure maximum possible outdoor air mixture.
- Increased filter changes from quarterly to 6 times per year.
- HVAC system schedule has been adjusted to run during unoccupied times to maximize air dilution.
Portable HEPA air filters have been installed in classrooms and office spaces to provide additional filtering of indoor air.

Hygiene, Cleaning and Disinfection

All staff and students must sanitize their hands upon entering the building. Staff and students will also be required to wash hands or sanitize frequently throughout the day, particularly between program activities, before and after eating, after using the restroom, and before departure at the end of the day.

Classroom materials will continue to be cleaned frequently using a bleach/water solution. The amount of material sharing has also been reduced.

Each student will have a container of supplies such as pencils, erasers, art supplies, etc that will be for their use only, and will not be shared with other students.

Laptops, iPads and other electronics will be assigned to students and staff for individual use and will be wiped down at the end of each day.

Disinfecting supplies including bleach solution spray, disinfecting wipes, standalone hand sanitizer pumps, gloves, and hand soap will be made available in every classroom so that teachers and students may disinfect within the classroom throughout the school day. Auxiliary spaces and common areas such as hallways will have wall-mounted hand sanitizer pumps available.

Disinfection of high touch points within the school and restrooms will occur frequently throughout the day according to a set schedule. Teachers will also be supplied with cleaning supplies for disinfecting surfaces and materials inside the classrooms.

Water fountains have been disabled.

Mopping of the school will occur at the end of the day when all staff and students have exited the building.

Disinfectant misting will occur nightly. Misting will be the final disinfection step of the day.

A daily log of all disinfection will be recorded and tracked with facilities maintenance.

Early Drop Off/Late Pickup (Before and Aftercare)

The early drop off and late pickup programs will be an extension of the school day with the same regulations and guidelines in place for physical distancing, masking and limited access to areas outside of the classrooms assigned for these programs.

Vulnerable Populations

A live remote option is available for families who prefer the remote option, or have children that are in a “high-risk” category as deemed by the CDC. This live remote option will enable a student to connect live with his/her class, participating remotely in class activities.

High risk staff unable to work on-campus will be reassigned to virtual learning duties and allowed to work from home.

Additional PPE will be made available to all students and staff with underlying health conditions. Face shields are available, to be worn over masks. A limited quantity of kN95 masks has been procured for voluntary use by high risk populations, as defined by the CDC.

Transportation

We do not provide transportation services for our students.

Food Services

Lunch service will be provided in the classrooms instead of the cafeteria space. Individually packaged meals will be delivered by off- site lunch provider. Those lunches will be delivered grouped by classroom, and the facilities staff will deliver those meals to the respective classrooms.

As in prior years, our food service provider will be provided with a list of food allergies by student, and the prepackaged meals will be clearly marked with student names to facilitate delivery of the correct meals to the correct students.

All students will eat lunch at their individual desks, which will minimize opportunities for sharing of food.

All classrooms have sinks and will be supplied with hand soap and disposable towels so students can wash hands before and after lunch.

Classrooms will be equipped with and cleaning supplies to allow for pre- and post-lunch cleaning of desks and floors.

Large messes will be communicated to the facilities team who will enter the space with necessary supplies to clean.

Mental Health, Behavioral and Emotional Services and Programs

School leaders have established a curriculum and culture that supports and emphasizes mental health services available for faculty, staff, students and families.

Students

Heads of school and teachers to provide counseling to children in need of emotional/social support
Teachers will be mindful of social/emotional needs and will observe for issues before they arise (i.e. access to social/emotional learning books, workshops, role play to demonstrate ways of coping, etc.)
Our school has resilience building inherent in its curriculum philosophies (i.e. peace curriculum, self-care and regulation, attitudes in the IB profile, affective skill-building/self-management skills, reflection skills as part of coping/managing).
For families
We will continue to offer parent education workshops with experts in the field of social/emotional learning. We began offering these workshops in April 2020 when it became clear that families needed support with the social/emotional impacts of remote learning in a COVID-19 environment.

Staff

Our Human Resources department is the first line of support for all staff. We have a social emotional wellness program in place, consisting of a series of resources and workshops to assist our employees which include:

Social Emotional Training: A wellbeing program for educators and staff. These series of trainings support staff wellbeing during challenging times in the world and also in education.
- The EAP (Employee Assistance Program). This service allows our employees to call anonymously and seek support through sessions of therapy. This is provided by a group of experienced bachelor’s and master’s level specialists who are educated and trained in a specific specialty (childcare, senior care, academics, etc.).
- Live Health Online: A virtual visit program that employees can use for both medical/physical visits as well as mental health visits. A licensed therapist is available for Online Psychology.

Communication plans

Our Reopening Plan has been published on our website, which has been available to enrolled and prospective families since XXX. This plan has been updated periodically as policies and procedures continue to evolve.

We have held virtual “Town Hall” meetings with both families and staff providing clarification, training, and the opportunity to ask questions. Recordings of the “Town Halls” and transcriptions of Frequently Asked Questions are available on our Parent Portal. These online Town Halls will continue as we prepare for the school year, during our opening, and during the school year.

In addition, regular newsletters are sent to our enrolled families, which contain updates relative to safely reopening the school.

Monitoring

Screening protocols and procedures

Students and Staff

Staff will be instructed to stay home if they are sick. Parents will be reminded frequently to keep their child home when they are sick.

Staff and parents of students will be required to complete a daily screening prior to arrival at the school. We ask the following questions:

Do you have a fever of 100.0 degrees or more?
Have you experienced shortness of breath or had trouble breathing?
Do you have a dry cough?
Are you experiencing unusual fatigue?
Are you experiencing muscle or body aches?
Have you recently lost your sense of taste or smell?
Do you have a sore throat?
Are you experiencing congestion or a runny nose?
Are you experiencing nausea or vomiting?
Have you been in contact with someone who has tested positive for COVID-19?
Have you been tested for COVID-19 in the past 14 days?
Have you been tested for COVID-19 and are awaiting results?
Have you traveled internationally or outside the state?

An electronic service (app, online form, etc) is utillised to capture answers to these questions daily. Any staff member or student that does not pass the daily screening, or who is voluntarily absent because they are experiencing symptoms will be strongly encouraged to contact their doctor and request a COVID-19 test (see below for more information regarding next steps).

Vendors

Vendors are only allowed in the building for necessary work and will be subject to the same symptom survey and arrival protocols.

In addition to the questions noted above, Vendors will be also be asked to acknowledge if there have been any cases of COVID-19 in their company. If a case was present within the last 14 days, the vendor will not be allowed in the building until such a time when 14 days have passed since the initial case and there are no continued cases.

Vendor site visits will be scheduled outside of school instructional hours whenever possible.

Containment

Anyone who arrives at school exhibiting COVID-19 symptoms will not be permitted to enter our facilities.

Students developing or exhibiting COVID-19 symptoms while onsite will be moved to the Nurse’s isolation room, where they must continue to wear a mask until they are picked up, as soon as possible, by an authorized person. A parent or guardian will be notified, and safe pick up must be arranged. The parent or guardian will be notified that the student must be seen by a health care provider.

Staff developing or exhibiting COVID-19 symptoms while onsite will be discreetly asked to leave the building immediately and to report their symptoms to a medical professional.

Facilities staff will close off and restrict all areas accessed by any sick individual or any individual exhibiting symptoms.

The Nurse’s isolation room and any room or area occupied by sick or symptomatic students or faculty will be closed until the area has been cleaned and disinfected in a manner following the CDC prescribed guidelines.

Facilities staff will wait twenty-four hours, or as long as practical, before cleaning and disinfecting the isolation room or any room or area occupied by sick or symptomatic individuals.
Staff cleaning the isolation room must wear appropriate personal protective equipment and arrange for optimal ventilation conditions during the cleaning process.

Staff members and students who have symptoms of COVID-19 or have a positive diagnostic test will not be able to return to school until they have met the CDC criteria to discontinue home isolation for COVID-19 related illnesses, which includes

3 days (72 hours) fever-free (without use of fever-reducing medicines), an improvement in respiratory symptoms (e.g., cough, shortness of breath), and negative results of an FDA Emergency Use Authorized COVID-19 molecular assay for detection of SARS-CoV-2 RNA
OR 3 days (72 hours) fever-free (without use of fever-reducing medicines), an improvement in respiratory symptoms (e.g., cough, shortness of breath) and ten (10) days have elapsed since the symptoms first appeared.

Students or staff who have been in close contact with someone with COVID- 19 are required to complete a 14-day quarantine. Close contact is defined by the CDC as any individual who was within 6 feet of an infected person for at least 15 minutes starting from 2 days before illness onset (or, for asymptomatic patients, 2 days prior to positive specimen collection) until the time the patient is isolated.

If a student or staff member is diagnosed with COVID-19, the school will contact the local health department.

Additionally, the School will notify staff members and families. In accordance with HIPAA law, the identify of any individual who is COVID-19 positive will not be revealed.

Closure

(NYC) We will close the physical campus if the percent of positive tests in New York City is equal to or greater than 3% using a 7-day rolling average, or if instructed to do so by the Department of Health or other governmental entity.

The physical campus will reopen when the percent of positive tests in New York City is less than 3% using a 7-day rolling average or when we are granted permission to do so by the Department of Health or other governmental entity.

(For NYC Schools) The following protocol, established by the NYC DOE, will be followed to determine closures in the event of staff or faculty with a positive COVID-19 test result.

Conclusion of Investigation	During Investigation	Post Investigation
A. 1 confirmed case	Close Classroom	Classroom remains closed for 14 days; students and staff in close contact with positive case self-quarantine for 14 days.
B. At least 2 cases linked together in school, same classroom	Close Classroom	Classroom remains closed for 14 days; students and staff in close contact with positive cases self-quarantine for 14 days

C. At least 2 cases linked together in school, different classrooms	Close school	Classrooms of each case remain closed and quarantined, additional school members are quarantined based on where the exposure was in the school (e.g., Welcome Center)
D. At least 2 cases linked together by circumstances outside of school (i.e., acquired infection by different setting and source)	Close school	School opens post investigation, classrooms remain closed for 14 days
E. At least 2 cases not linked but exposure confirmed for each one outside of school setting	Close school	School opens post investigation, classrooms remain closed for 14 days
F. Link unable to be determined	Close school	Close school for 14 days

*This sample plan was created utilizing the New York Dept of Health

“INTERIM GUIDANCE FOR IN-PERSON INSTRUCTION AT PRE-K TO GRADE 12 SCHOOLS DURING THE COVID-19 PUBLIC HEALTH EMERGENCY”

Sample School Reopening Plan