Chase Multi-Layered COVID-19 Mitigation Plan

Emma C. Chase
Monticello Central School District
Chase Multi-Layered COVID-19 Mitigation Plan
Fall 2021

Principal- Bill Frandino
Assistant Principal- Douglas Murphy

Chase will be Responsive

• Given the fluidity of the COVID-19 pandemic, this prevention plan should be
  considered a living document and will be updated frequently as more information becomes available, or as situations change.

Developed in Consultation with Experts

• The Monticello Central School District has been guided by the recommendations of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the American
  Academy of Pediatrics, and the requirements from the Sullivan County Department of Public Health, in the creation of its COVID-19 Mitigation and Prevention Plan.

 

Priorities

• Safety
• Socialization
• Engagement

 

In-Person Instruction

• Our focus continues to be having all our students safely back in school, five days a week. We are not offering a remote option to students. In order to keep our community safe, layering multiple prevention strategies is essential.

 

COVID-19 Mitigation is a Cumulative Result of Many Layers of Safety Strategies

• In the same way that ones COVID-19 risk level is a cumulative result of many characteristics, we are implementing many layers of strategies to create a cumulative level of mitigation/safety

 

Elements of Multi-Layered Mitigation

• Encouraging Vaccination
• Universal Indoor Mask-Wearing
• Daily health screening
• Social distancing
• Cohorts/pods of individuals
• Improved ventilation/air quality
• Handwashing
• Respiration Hygiene
• Staying home when sick with symptoms
• Protocol for returning to school (testing…)
• Frequent cleaning/disinfecting of facilities

 

Promoting Vaccination

• COVID-19 vaccination for all eligible students as well as teachers, staff, and household members is the most critical strategy to help schools safely resume
  full operations.

Universal Masking

• We require universal masking indoors in all MCSD school buildings, except when eating. Masks will not be required during outdoor school activities.

During school transportation:

• Passengers and drivers must wear a mask on school buses regardless of vaccination status. Bus windows must be open while students are on the bus.

Distancing

• Three (3) feet of distance must be maintained between students/staff in all indoor spaces and school buses
• Six (6) feet of distance must be maintained when eating, singing, playing recorders, physical education, and/or any aerobic activity

Pods of Students/Staff

• Chase will maintain the same process of separating the building into three main “Pods” of students and staff.
• Some staff will cross between pods, physical education, and likely art space will be shared between classes; distancing and cleaning procedures will be followed in between class session

Kindergarten, First Grade, Mrs. Crofoot

Use “Flagpole Entrance”

 

Grade 2 and Grade 3 Entrance

Use the left side doors of the“Lobby Entrance”

 

Grade 4 and Grade 5 Entrance

Use the right-side doors of the “Lobby Entrance”

 

Students and Staff Will Undergo a Temperature Screening When Entering the Building.

1. Have you had COVID-19 symptoms in the past 14 days? These symptoms include sore throat, cough, chills, body aches for unknown reasons, shortness of breath for unknown reasons, loss of smell, loss of taste, or fever at or greater than 100 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Have you had a positive diagnostic COVID-19 test in the past 14 days?
3. Have you had close contact with a confirmed or suspected COVID-19 case in the past 14 days and are unvaccinated?
4. Have you been under quarantine and not cleared to return to work?
5. Have you traveled internationally in the past 14 days

 

Attention to Ventilation

• Window fans may be used to cross ventilate rooms, fans should be pointed away from people, and not be used to recirculate air in a classroom.
• All classrooms have an air filtration unit.
• During transportation, in buses and other forms of transportation, windows will be kept open if doing so does not pose a safety risk.

 

Handwashing and Respiratory Etiquette

• People should practice handwashing and respiratory etiquette (covering coughs and sneezes) to keep from getting and spreading infectious illnesses including COVID-19

 

Staying Home when Sick and Getting Tested

• Students, teachers, and staff who havesymptoms of infectious illness, such
  as influenza (flu) or COVID-19, should stay homeand be referred to their healthcare provider for testing and care, regardless of vaccination status.
• ALL individuals (students, parents, staff…) need to selfmonitor body temperature and general health condition every morning; and stay home if symptomatic
• If a parent is considering administering cold medicine for their child, then that child should not be attending school
• When in doubt it will be best to keep your student home

 

Suspected Individuals will be Isolated

• Students/staff with a temperature, signs of illness, and/or a positive response to the questionnaire will be sent to an isolation space, students will be
  supervised, and parent will be contacted immediately. Students will be escorted from the isolation area to their parent/guardian. Students/staff will be referred to a healthcare provider and provided resources on COVID-19 testing.

 

Parent Contact

• It is very important that the school is able to make timely contact with a parent if their child needs to be picked-up from school.
• Inform the office of preference in parent
• Answer the phone when receiving calls from any school number (rarely is a robo-call sent during the day)

 

To return to school, the MCSD, in consultation with Sullivan County Public Health Services requires a previously symptomatic individual to show:

1. Documentation from a health care provider following evaluation with alternative diagnosis OR
2. Negative COVID-19 diagnostic test result documentation OR
3. Symptom resolution, or if COVID-19 positive, official release from isolation notice

 

Contact Tracing in Combination with Isolation and Quarantine

• “Contacts” are adults who have been within six (6) feet of an infected individual for a cumulative total of 15 minutes over a 24-hour period.
• Unvaccinated individuals who have been deemed a contact will be referred to SCPHS for quarantine.
• Vaccinated individuals will not be considered contacts and will not be referred to SCPHS. However, should self-monitor for symptoms and be tested 3-5 days after exposure if they become symptomatic.
• Fully vaccinated contacts do not need to quarantine following an exposure (they can continue to attend school in-person and participate in other activities), so long as they have no symptoms of COVID-19
• Any individual who does not want to be referred to SCPHS as a contact because they are vaccinated will need to provide proof of vaccination to the district representative responsible for contact tracing in the building.
• In the K-12 indoor classroom setting, the contact definition excludes students who were within six (6) feet of an infected student if both the infected student and the exposed student(s) correctly and consistently wore well-fitting masks the entire time. This exception does not apply to teachers, staff, or other adults in the indoor classroom setting.

 

Instruction During Quarantine

• If students are quarantined, live streamed instruction will be provided by their teacher(s) during the quarantine period.
• If a teacher is quarantined and is asymptomatic, they will be expected to live stream into their classes and provide instruction according to their teaching schedule. Student work will be posted, shared, and transmitted through the school’s learning management system (LMS).
• All students and faculty/staff will be issued a district device. Additionally, students with inconsistent broadband access at home may
  request a district hotspot from their building principal.

 

Cleaning and Disinfecting

• MCSD will clean and disinfect buildings once a day.
• If an individual who has tested positive has been in a district space, that space will be closed, cleaned and disinfected before the space is reoccupied.
• Cleaning products will be made available in each district building, if individuals would like to clean more frequently.

 

We are all in this together

• By following all guidelines, we are making it possible to open our schools, stay open, and to adjust with conditions to lessen mitigation steps when possible.

 

Arrival/Dismissal Procedures

• Students will dismiss to buses using the same entrance/exit used in the morning
• Tardy students must enter at the main lobby
• Parent/guardian will remain in their car and students will be brought out; pick-up will begin after the first set of buses depart (TBD)
• Bus pick-up and transport is only to and from the primary residence

 

Update Your Parent/Student Information

• Make sure your primary residence information is updated; this is the address that transportation will use to make bus routes
• Create your SchoolMessenger account (Download APP); no more paper forms
• Emergency contact information is parent/guardian responsibility within the SchoolTool Parent Portal system (on district web page)

 

Scheduling

• Math, ELA, Science, Social Studies will take place according to established instructional time guidelines
• Students have one special per day
• Intervention, occupational therapy, physical therapy, speech, guidance counseling, counseling w/social worker and/or other services will take place

 

“iPads” Will Be Issued To Each Student

• Plan for iPads to go back and forth between home and school
• Plan for positive charging habits

 

Food Services

• “Grab and Go” Breakfasts brought to student pod; students eat in the classroom at fixed distance location
• Plan to send individual snacks for only your student; individually wrapped snacks will be provided for students without a snack on an asneeded basis
• Lunch will be brought to each student pod; students will eat in the classroom at their fixed distance location
• Food allergies will be attended to through collaboration and communication between the school nurse, administrators, the classroom teacher, food services, staff delivering food, and staff monitoring student lunch

 

Questions?

• William Frandino – wfrandino@k12mcsd.net
• Douglas Murphy – dmurphy@k12mcsdmcsd.net