Covid-19:  What Our Parents Need to Know

COVID-19 Response Outline

 

Reference

Los Angeles County Schools:

Rising to the Challenge of COVID-19

A Planning Framework for the 2020-21 School Year

https://www.lacoe.edu/Portals/0/LA CO Schools 2020-21 Planning Framework.pdf?ver=2020-05-26-161915-740

 

Introduction

The goal of Waterhouse Guild, at all times, is to protect and promote the complete health of students, parents, staff and visitors. This includes physical, emotional, intellectual, spiritual, and emotional health.

Communication

Overall guidelines and responsibilities for students, parents, and staff will be communicated by:

  • Hard copies given to parents and staff.
  • Email to parents and staff.
  • Posting on the school’s website, waterhouseguild.com.
  • Group teleconferencing as needed.
  • On-site posters and notices as appropriate at entrances and sinks.

Facility

  1. Consider using separate entrance and exit paths to avoid congestion at gate.
    Enter from parking area.
    Exit through garden area.
  2. Classrooms will be arranged as needed to maximize social distancing while taking into account educational needs.
  3. Hand sanitizing stations will be provided at each classroom entrance.
  4. Use of shared materials will be eliminated wherever possible.
  5. Common areas will be cleaned throughout the day as needed.
  6. In addition to our current daily cleaning procedures, a detailed cleaning list (TBD) will be followed at the end of each day.
  7. A visitor log will be kept at the door to track room use outside of Waterhouse hours.
  8. Cones will be provided at classroom entrances to define social distancing requirements in cases where a line forms.

 

Staff

  1. Staff members will be given an exposure questionnaire each morning before entering classrooms.
  2. Staff members will have temperature taken each morning before entering classrooms. If temperature exceeds health authority guidelines, they will be sent home and be required to get tested for Covid-19 before returning to class. If tested positive, staff member will be required to follow public health guidelines before returning.
  3. When feasible, masks will be worn.
  4. Staff will be required to use hand sanitizer when entering or leaving classrooms.

Parents

  1. Parents will follow all staff guidelines.
  2. Parents will be restricted from entering classrooms unless necessary.
  3. Parents will be restricted from congregating in classrooms or breezeway.

Students

Daily before entering class:

  1. Students will be given an exposure questionnaire (with a parent or guardian present).
  2. Student’s temperature will be taken with a non-contact thermometer.
  3. Reminders will be given throughout the day regarding distancing and hand washing.
  4. Waterhouse instruction currently takes place in small groups, this practice will continue.
  5. Inter-mixing of groups will be minimized.
  6. Outdoor activities will emphasize social distancing.

 

 

Monsters of Habit, by Evelyn E.

Scholastic Arts and Writing Awards 2010, National Gold Key 

Intense rays of sun

Scald the tops of our heads

As we sit in a haphazard circle

On bubble gum covered concrete

 

I stare at the grimy trashcan in front of me

And notice the patch of grass

Two feet to my right

 

I gaze longingly at the lush lawn and shady sycamore tree

Only a couple of yards away

I wonder why we sit here day after day

 

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday

We flock to the trashcan

Atop the red stairs

Like senseless sheep

Summoned by the lunch bell

 

Thirty minutes suffered in beating sunshine

Heat radiates up from the unsanitary cement

My eyes squint

My brow sweats

My frustration mounts

 

An advocate for change

I make my case for a new lunch spot

“Let’s give the grass under the shady tree a chance”

Yet unbendable friends complain of potentially wet bottoms

And stubbornly hold their ground

 

Huddled in a circle

Sack lunches scattered about

They refuse to break free of

Their comfort zone

 

It’s a paradox to me

How this concrete “comfort zone”

Could be so

Uncomfortable

 

Obstinacy is perplexing

Though a cool, grassy location

Lies uninhabited

Mere steps away

They will not budge

 

It is their daily ritual

Prized territory

Hard, dead ground

Hot, burning sun

Security blanket

Their monotonous existence

 

Fear of the unfamiliar

Feeds their doubts

Kills their willingness

To give change a chance

 

Noticing my apparent annoyance

As I ponder human nature

A friend says sheepishly

“What can I say, we are creatures of habit!”

 

Disinclined to part from peers

I forfeit my campaign for now

And trudge defeated

To the trash can

Again and again

 

A school year slips by

Summer comes to a close

The first day of school arrives

Whispers of CHANGE blow

Through the autumn air

As I give rise to a hope

 

A new day has donned

An opportunity to start afresh

And claim a new lunch spot

I boldly enter the quad

 

My smile fades

Hope dissolves

As I glimpse my friends

Encamped by the trashcan

Atop the red stairs

 

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