S/o- How much information are your local private schools giving for starting school

[essnce629]

My DS1's school (independent k-12) released their hybrid plans a month or so ago, but that won't happen now till Los Angeles county is off the watch list. There's two separate campuses-- lower school is k-6 and the upper school is 7-12. This was the plan, which they are hoping to switch to as soon as it's allowed:

Physical Distancing, Sanitation & Face Coverings:

Students, Faculty, and Staff will maintain 6 ft of distance from one another, to the greatest extent possible

Face coverings will be required by all individuals on campus, to the greatest extent possible

Students will be organized in smaller groups & movement will be controlled to minimize contact around campus

Access to hand sanitizer, soap, and water will be available in multiple locations around campus

There will be frequent hand washing/sanitizing breaks: when entering and leaving classrooms, during recess and lunch periods, and during restroom breaks

Health Screenings, Campus Access, Lunch & Student Movement:

All individuals will have their temperature taken prior to entering campus

Completing Health Screening Checklist will be required prior to entering campus

Will limit non-students, faculty, and staff from being on campus

A staggered lunch schedule will be implemented to maintain physical distancing

A grab & go concept for school lunches will be implemented with all items prepared, packaged & delivered by an outside vendor

Personal food delivery services, such as Postmates, will not be permitted on campus

There will be no off-campus privileges for students on days when student groups are doing on-campus learning

[b/If an Individual Becomes Symptomatic While at School:[/b]

School will immediately separate that student from others to minimize exposure, and the student will be escorted to a separate waiting room while parents are notified

Parents will be asked to consult with their healthcare provider to determine if testing is needed

The Health & Safety team will evaluate the student, then make a determination on next steps including closing off areas and cleaning/sanitation as appropriate

If an individual tests positive for COVID-19, the school will initiate a protocol for notifying the L.A. County Department of Public Health, isolation, and notifying the community. Details of this protocol are being developed, as public health guidelines are being established.

What Will the Elementary Student Experience Look Like?

Monday-Thursday will be synchronous; Friday will be asynchronous for all students

K-4 students will be on campus Monday-Thursday

5-6 students will be in an A/B Rotation—alternating days or one week on & one week off

Fridays will be a combination of asynchronous, small-group, or 1:1 instruction (as needed), and faculty meetings, professional development, and planning time

Students in each grade level will be divided into one of two cohort groups of 10-12 students each. Criteria for determining cohort groups are still being finalized, but will include: student familiarity with cohort mates, twins, heterogeneous groupings

Classroom spaces will be modified, with front-facing desks positioned 6 feet apart from one another

Teachers and students will be provided with face coverings (masks and/or shields)

Each child’s belongings will be separated from others’ and stored in individually-labeled containers

There will be adequate supplies to minimize sharing of high-touch materials (a no-sharing policy will be implemented)

Field trips & school events will be postponed or conducted virtually when possible

What Will the Secondary Student Experience Look Like?

The secondary campus will be divided into two student groups, alternating weekly, and meeting Monday–Thursday. Fridays will be all remote instruction for all secondary students.

Week A

Learning on Campus: Grades 7, 8, 9

Learning Remotely: Grades 10, 11, 12

Week B

Learning on Campus: Grades 10, 11, 12

Learning Remotely: Grades 7, 8, 9

This model allows us to reduce the overall number of students on campus at any given time—to mitigate potential transmission, to keep class sizes down, and to adhere to physical distancing and other health and safety guidelines.

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[elbert]

Partial reopening has K-5 still attending school full time. High school students attend some days. I can’t remember which group middle school fell into.

Limited reopening has most students distance learning, but some limited in school learning for vulnerable populations (who I believe also get priority for in person learning in the partial scenario). This includes students who get special services, English language learners, and possibly some transitional grades.

My current understanding is that the state (governor/school commissioner/department of Ed) will announce which plan each district must follow at least for public schools, but that it may not be the same for every district.

Many districts submitted plans with 2 days in person and 3 days distance learning for all students as their partial reopening plans and were told that was not ok. I do not know what would happen if she said to do full reopening, which she is really pushing for, and a district or school said they could not do that safely. Which is essentially what at least 9 districts have already said.

Initially full distance learning would only be an option for high risk families if the schools were open, but they have already walked that one back and allowed everyone the option of selecting full distance learning.


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For RI, state will make the decision the week of 8/17 as to which model each municipality can open with. Since one of the metrics is incidence (new cases) in last week (threshold 100/100,000 for full model), it works well for publics but not independents which draw from multiple communities/municipalities. As of now, based solely on that metric, only 3/39 districts would NOT qualify for full reopening models (which in many places aren’t really full). They still need to get testing turnaround times addressed, as without meeting that metric of test results available within 48 hours, no one can open with full models.


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[NCGrandma]

For RI, state will make the decision the week of 8/17 as to which model each municipality can open with. Since one of the metrics is incidence (new cases) in last week (threshold 100/100,000 for full model), it works well for publics but not independents which draw from multiple communities/municipalities. As of now, based solely on that metric, only 3/39 districts would NOT qualify for full reopening models (which in many places aren’t really full). They still need to get testing turnaround times addressed, as without meeting that metric of test results available within 48 hours, no one can open with full models.


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Thanks — I wonder how they (RIDE/Governor's office/whoever) are actually thinking about how to apply this to independent schools. Even though DGDs' school is in a pretty low incidence area, does this mean that if they have even one student from Providence, they’re out of luck and can’t have anyone on campus? Or does it mean that students from higher incidence areas need to do some sort of distance learning while most other students are on campus (like those who are quarantined)? Or...??

I’m sure no BBBers (and maybe no one yet) has a definitive answer to questions like these. What a challenge!


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[gymnbomb]

Looking at the COVID19 stats by town, I can’t imagine that it would make sense for all schools to do the same thing, especially full reopening. (This week's data by town range from 2% of tests being positive to 20% positivity.)


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Yes, Providence, Pawtucket, and Central Falls have much higher rates, then there is a group of towns with kinda ok rates, and another group with really low rates.

[gymnbomb]

For RI, state will make the decision the week of 8/17 as to which model each municipality can open with. Since one of the metrics is incidence (new cases) in last week (threshold 100/100,000 for full model), it works well for publics but not independents which draw from multiple communities/municipalities. As of now, based solely on that metric, only 3/39 districts would NOT qualify for full reopening models (which in many places aren’t really full). They still need to get testing turnaround times addressed, as without meeting that metric of test results available within 48 hours, no one can open with full models.


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Yes, there are so many schools that pull from multiple towns, and the state is so small that there will be a lot of mixing anyway. I'm not comfortable with how hard they are pushing for full reopening, even as school districts are saying they can't do it safely. One of many reasons we've opted for virtual learning this year.

[mmsmom]

I am really pleased with the type and amount of information our private school is sharing. The information sharing started back in March and has been excellent since. They have invested a lot of time, money and effort into their plan which is shared on a website. More specifics have been shared via email and Zoom calls and any individual emails are responded to quickly. The back to school plan was shared on July 15, a date that was announced back in May. School starts 8/19 which was the original planned date. Lower school is attending every day, middle and upper school every other day with synchronous learning on home days. Masks required for all and full synchronous virtual option offered as well. They installed new technology over the summer with cameras in every class that follow teacher and automatically switch to person who is talked whether they are at home or in the classroom.

[hwin708]

Ours has already started back in school. There is a LOT of information, with long forms on each topic, from cleaning to food service. Some of their plans have adapted along the way, but they have been pretty steady since school started.

Grades 3 and up wear masks full-time.
Slightly staggered start/end times for the various grade groups, to limit the numbers entering/exiting at one time.
Temp/Masks checks at arrival.
School logo masks/lanyards given to all kids/faculty/staff
Regular cleaning staff is expanded, and clean high-touch areas like doorknobs, railings etc. every hour.
Contracted cleaning company deep cleans the classrooms every night.
Playground sanitized between each cohort group.
Water fountains replaced with bottle fillers.
UV light filtration system added to all HVACs
Increased outside air intake for all HVAC
Spacing of desks, with larger common areas repurposed for larger classrooms.
Floor signs to control flow of traffic and minimize contact.
Lunch in classrooms. Seniors can't leave campus for lunch.
Cohort groups for lower schools
Block schedules for upper/middle schools, with cohorting wherever possible
Teachers trained in HyFlex over the summer, to ease those choosing DL (rare at our school) and any potential transition back to DL
Limited visitors to campus.
Health director hired specifically to oversee covid protocols/contact tracing.
Isolation room in health center for students exhibiting symptoms.
Hand washing time scheduled at various points, like before/after meals.
No clubs at the moment. Arts programs like band, however, are happening.
Sports are operating, depending on the sport. Roughly 98% of the students are in a sport (schools pushes group athletics hard as part of their counseling program), so this was a big topic. Lots of social distancing procedures for each one.
No lockers
PE is allegedly still happening, but hasn't really done so in a traditional sense yet. My guess is they are waiting until it isn't insanely hot outside.
Personal equipment for arts class. Gloves required for shared equipment.

[mom2binsd]

Here's my take on all of this, no matter how much the schools do with respect to distancing, cleaning, size of classes, hybrid etc, what is going on OUTSIDE IN THE COMMUNITY is what will really impact things.

We are in an area with just under 2% positivity rate, 15 deaths total (10 in one nursing home back in May) and yet our two main public school districts, which are well funded and not over crowded, good facilities (not run down old buildings), still chose to delay in school even hybrid, until later this year.

How are schools in areas like Florida, Texas, Arizona etc with crazy high rates opening schools?

We meet the cdc guidelines to open, but who knows if those guidelines are appropriate? I'm a parent who absolutely was planning on sending my kids age 17 and 14, so childcare wasn't an issue I just want them in school AND I work in a nursing home so I am aware of the risks but I still want them in school.

I just wonder how much schools can do, when the adults in the world are really impacting everything. I think the opening of the bars and inside gatherings was a huge mistake nationwide and all the traveling is also a huge factor.

Times like this make me wish I was back in my native Canada where they have handled this way way better, it's embarrassing that our neighbors to the north followed the science and common sense.

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