IWA Reopening Plan by Incarnate Word Academy

REOPENING PLAN Last revised on:

March 2, 2021

Inside

▪ ▪ Registration Registration

▪ ▪ The The Campus Campus

▪ ▪ The The School School Day Day

▪ ▪ Activities Activities && Athletics Athletics ▪ ▪ Safety Safety Guidelines Guidelines

▪ ▪ How How to to Help Help from from Home Home ▪ ▪ Distance Distance Learning Learning && Learning Learning from from Home Home

REGISTRATION

Angel Check-in

Registration will be conducted online this year. All of the information normally provided at Angel Check-in will be distributed through the virtual Angel Check-in which will be open July 15th through August 5th and can be accessed at iwacc.org/angelcheckin. Families who already know they intend to continue distance learning (DL) after August 7th are requested to select the DL option during registration. DL will remain available to all students throughout the school year. If the following required documents are not already on file at the school, please gather them to submit via virtual Angel Check-in. They must be on file prior to attendance. Questions may be submitted to nurse@iwacc.org. 1) Immunization Records (Be sure to resubmit if immunizations were updated since the last submission to the school) 2) Birth Certificate

Health and Wellness Pledge

All families must commit to supporting IWA’s health, wellness, and safety protocols and must agree to keep children home when they are not feeling well, have COVID-19-like symptoms or have potentially been exposed. Each family will be required to complete the IWA Health and Wellness Pledge as part of Angel Check-in.

THE CAMPUS

Cleaning & Sanitation

Commonly touched areas will be disinfected throughout the campus multiple times per day. Desk tops and chairs will be disinfected after each use. Additional janitorial staff has been hired to ensure the sanitation demands are met. Disinfectant cleansers will be used every night in all classrooms, restrooms, offices, and other common spaces. Sprayers will be used to disinfect lunch tables and playgrounds between usage groups, and the restrooms several times daily. We will disinfect immediately if a student with possible COVID-19 symptoms visits the clinic or quarantine room.

Visitors

Campus visitors, including parents, will not be allowed on campus for the foreseeable future. Only IWA employees, students, and essential services (i.e. lunch crew, repair workers) will be allowed onto the IWA campus. This temporary visitor policy is disappointing to everyone. However, it is a necessary sacrifice to ensure the safety of our students, faculty, and staff. This policy will be revised as soon as it is safe to do so.

Lockers & Cubbies

ML and HSL students will not utilize lockers and will instead store their school supplies in their backpacks. Students will keep their backpacks with them during the day. Teachers will actively seek to reduce the amount of materials that go home with students each day. Students should only bring to school what is absolutely necessary.

THE CAMPUS CONT’D

Water Fountains

Water fountains will be turned off, but bottle filling stations will remain on in the Elementary Level, and temporary water filling stations will be available in the Middle and High School Levels. All students should bring a water bottle with their name on it to school every day (ML and HSL bottles must be clear).

Hallways & Breezeways

Faculty will enforce social distancing practices in hallways and on breezeways. Signs posted throughout the buildings will detail social distancing expectations. All stairways will be one direction only.

Nurse’s Clinic & Quarantine Rooms

Computers are being added to the clinic areas of each level to create rapid access for the school nurse. Quarantine rooms will be used at each level for any student exhibiting potential COVID-19 symptoms.

THE SCHOOL DAY

Carpool

Arriving and departing students must open their own doors and enter/exit vehicles without assistance as much as possible. IWA staff will not be able to reach into cars to help with seat belts. EL parents with children who are unable to exit their car unassisted will need to park and walk their child(ren) to their school entrance gate. Carpool route details will be shared before the start of school. Drop off times remain unchanged, 7:35 a.m. - 8:00 a.m. The ML drop-off route will be the circle drive only (no Austin St. drop-off) and students may not be dropped off earlier than 7:35 a.m. The afternoon pick up time remains unchanged at 3:42 p.m. while the route changes so that 7th grade is picked up in the circle drive and 6th and 8th grades are picked up on Austin St. HSL drop off has changed to Angel Avenue only (no circle drop off) and students may not be dropped off earlier than 7:35 a.m. Families with ML and HSL students may continue to use the circle drive for both. HSL pickup time remains unchanged at 3:42 p.m.

Cohort Model

EL students will stay with their classroom cohort throughout the day which means that auxiliary instruction such as the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd, STEAM, and Spanish will occur in the classroom with the teachers traveling instead of the students. EL students will eat lunch in their classroom and will enjoy outdoor recess and PE with their classroom cohort. While ML and HSL will change classrooms for instruction, they will remain with a defined cohort during lunch to minimize the potential spread of germs and to facilitate contact tracing should it become necessary. The cohort model and schoolwide social distancing practices will allow our students to miss far less in-person class time if/when we have a positive case in our community, as everyone who was not directly exposed will be able to return to campus.

SCHOOL DAY CONT’D

Breakfast and Lunch Services

Students can either bring a lunch from home, or purchase the daily boxed lunch option provided by Top Choice Catering. Parents will not be able to drop lunch off at the school and will not be able to join students for lunch. Seniors will not be allowed to leave campus for lunch as they have in the past. All students are required to bring a water bottle labeled with the student’s name (note ML and HSL bottles must be clear). There will be places at each level to refill water. EL students will remain in their classrooms for lunch. ML students will eat in two shifts in the D.C. HSL students will eat in two shifts in the Angel Avenue Student Center, the Mother Patricia Gunning Gymnasium, patio, and other defined areas. ML and HSL students will eat in assigned cohorts and seats. Microwaves will not be available, and breakfast service will be suspended until further notice.

Recess, P.E., & Wellness

EL classroom cohorts will enjoy P.E. and outdoor recess daily (weather permitting). The playground will be sprayed with disinfectant after each cohort utilizes it. On bad weather days, P.E. will be conducted in each classroom and will follow appropriate social distancing guidelines. Additional wellness classes were added to the ML schedule to reduce class sizes. Classes will meet in the D.C., Mother Patricia Gunning Gymnasium, or outdoors on the athletic field.

Mass

All students will participate in weekly virtual, livestreamed Mass. Special campus wide Masses will still be scheduled once per quarter and may occur off-campus with parents able to attend as the Mass is livestreamed back to students on campus.

Classroom Materials

Students will avoid sharing materials (calculators, markers, pencils, devices, etc.) in the classroom as much as possible. The school will order additional materials as needed to minimize sharing. Montessori materials and other shared materials will be cleaned between student use.

Absences

Parents should contact their school level front office to report reasons for student absences.

SCHOOL DAY CONT’D

Classroom Changes

We are redesigning the layout of our classrooms to allow for social distance between students. To do this, we have increased the number of sections in secondary grades and limited enrollment to facilitate smaller class sizes across all levels. We are transforming spaces to accommodate the additional sections, and moving classrooms to make best use of available and adequate spaces.

Technology

Computer lab equipment will be cleaned between users, and plexiglas dividers added where needed. Laptop computers are being purchased for each teacher to record classroom lessons as needed to facilitate distance learning instruction for any students who are working from home while school is in session.

After School Care

After school care will still be offered through the YMCA for our EL students. If you wish to enroll your child in after school care, you can access the registration form on the EL Angel Check-in page and will need to take it to the YMCA in person on August 3, 2020 between 8:00 a.m. and 12:00 p.m. (even if you completed the form during the enrollment process). A limited Aftercare program for Middle Level students will be offered during the 2020-2021 school year. Registration is on a first-come, first-served basis and will be limited to a maximum of 12 students per 4-week segment. The cost for after school care is $100 per 4-week segment. This monthly rate cannot be prorated or altered based on attendance (or lack thereof). For more information and registration, visit the Middle Level Aftercare page.

Calendar

While the first and last days of school remain the same, August 10, 2020 and May 28, 2021 respectively, other changes were made to the 2020-21 school calendar in an effort to maximize the potential for safe classroom instruction. Fall break has been eliminated and Thanksgiving break has been reduced to two days. The last day of school before Christmas is December 11, 2020 and students report back on January 7, 2021 for the spring semester. The 2020-21 school calendar can be found at www.iwacc.org by clicking the calendar link located in the menu at the top of the page. The calendar is subject to change with updated guidelines or restrictions from local, state, and national agencies.

ACTIVITIES & ATHLETICS

Clubs

Most clubs will be canceled at least during the fall of 2020-21 school year to minimize student meetings. The HS missions team and the honors programs (NHS, NJHS, Spanish HS, French HS, Mu Alpha Theta, and the HSL Mission Team) will continue albeit in a revised format utilizing Zoom and other virtual formats. Spring semester club options will be determined later.

Community Service

Students will be able to utilize online options to complete their usual service hour commitments (24 hours per year for ML and HSL). Any service completed before June 1, 2020 will still be accepted. Campus Minister, Ashley Cartwright, is developing a list of online resources. She may be reached at cartwrighta@iwacc.org.

Athletics

High School athletic practices have been approved to resume on August 19th. Middle School athletic practices have been approved to resume on September 2nd. Coaches and campus-level athletic coordinators will share sport-specific Return to Play documents and practice/game schedules with athletes and parents when more details are available. All athletes and coaches must wear a mask to enter the facility and should bring their own personal water bottles to practices and games. Players and coaches will be screened for symptoms of COVID-19 (including a temperature check) upon facility entry. In the event that an athlete/coach has symptoms of COVID-19 or has been exposed or potentially exposed to someone who has tested positive for the virus, the affected individuals must follow IWA’s safety plan guidelines located on pages 9-11 of this document. In addition, athletes who test positive for COVID-19 must submit a physician’s note clearing them to return to play before they return to any physical activity. 8

SAFETY GUIDELINES Any faculty/staff or student who travels internationally, or on a cruise ship, or to any area identified as high risk, must follow current CDC self-quarantine recommendations to get tested 3-5 days after travel while under quarantine for 7 days upon return OR if the individual does not get tested, then they will be required to quarantine for 14 days and monitor for COVID-19 symptoms. Our first line of defense is you. We all must lower our threshold for deciding when it’s necessary to stay home and when to keep our children home. If there is any sign of potential illness that could be COVID-19, we must not come to school. We as a community must work in partnership to safe-guard our IWA family.

Masks & Shields

Students in 1st to 12th grades will be required to bring a parent-supplied face mask or face shield to school every day. At minimum, the use of face coverings will be required when entering the school, moving between classes, departing school, and at other times based on physical distancing. For the immediate future, students in 1st to 12th grades will be required to wear face coverings while in the classroom. Face coverings will be optional for preschool students (pre-kindergarten and kindergarten). Mask requirements are subject to change and parents will be kept informed. Students will be able to remove their face coverings while playing outside, participating in sports, eating lunch and other times deemed appropriate based on social distancing. Teachers will also incorporate frequent “mask breaks” throughout the school day. If your child has a medical condition that would interfere with his/her use of a face mask, contact the school nurse to discuss. Please note: Masks with one-way valves or vents allow air to be exhaled through a hole in the material, which can result in expelled respiratory droplets that can reach others. This type of mask does not prevent the person wearing the mask from transmitting COVID-19 to others. Therefore, CDC does not recommend, and IWA will not allow, using masks for source control if they have an exhalation valve or vent. Face coverings do not have to adhere to any specific uniform colors, but may not exhibit inappropriate language, messages, or images. Please put your student’s name on their covering and practice face mask wearing with them prior to the first day of school to help them acclimate to this important safety measure. 9

SAFETY GUIDELINES CONT’D

Hygiene

Students will “foam in and foam out” of each classroom with hand sanitizer and will be encouraged to wash hands frequently. Teachers will give lessons on how to properly wash hands. Sanitizing stations are being installed in each classroom and around campus and their use will be required throughout the day.

Temperature Screening

IWA staff/faculty will use an infrared forehead thermometer to take the temperature of each student every morning. For the EL students, a faculty or staff member will take their temperature prior to exiting the car in the carpool line. Please have EL students seated on the passenger side. ML and HSL student temperatures will be screened daily during their first period. HSL students who arrive after 1st period will need to check in at the front counter for a temperature screening.

COVID-19 Symptoms on Campus

Per CDC recommendations, any person exhibiting COVID-19 symptoms will be assumed to have COVID-19 and will be sent home immediately. COVID-19 symptoms currently included the recent onset of any of the following symptoms in a way not normal for the individual: • • • • • • • • •

Fever (measured temperature greater than 100 degrees Fahrenheit) or feeling feverish New loss of taste or smell New, uncontrolled cough Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing Chills or repeated shaking/shivering Sore throat The parent(s) of any child exhibiting New onset of severe headache symptoms will be called right away with Significant muscle pain or body aches the expectation that the parent will make Diarrhea, vomiting immediate arrangements to pick up their child.

SAFETY GUIDELINES CONT’D

COVID-19 - When to Stay Home

Students and employees must stay home if: • Exhibiting one or more of the COVID-19 symptoms • Traveled to an area under restriction by state or local government (may be required to quarantine for 14 days after travel) • A household member is symptomatic, awaiting results, or lab-confirmed to have COVID-19 • Had close contact* to a person who is lab-confirmed to have COVID-19 (may not return to school until the end of the 14 day self-quarantine period from the last day of exposure). Based on current CDC guidance, the stay-at-home period can end for individuals experiencing no symptoms: o On Day 10 after close contact exposure without testing. o On Day 7 after close contact exposure and after receiving a negative test result. o If individuals return to school from these shorter stay-at-home windows, they should regularly monitor themselves for symptoms to ensure they remain symptom-free and take appropriate precautions (e.g., more consistent mask usage) for the duration of the 14-day incubation period. • People who have been in close contact with someone who has COVID-19 may be excluded from the mandatory quarantine if: o

They have tested positive for COVID-19 witin the past 3 months and recovered as long as they do not develop new symptoms. o They have been fully vaccinated against the disease within the last three months and show no symptoms. Please note: People who develop symptoms again within 3 months of being fully vaccinated or of their first bout of COVID-19 may need to be tested again if there is no other cause identified for their symptoms. The school nurse may require a physician's note to return to school for any students or staff who have experienced COVID-19 symptoms.

SAFETY GUIDELINES CONT’D

Positive COVID-19 Case in the IWA Community

Any student or employee who themselves either are lab confirmed to have COVID-19 or experience the symptoms of COVID-19 must stay home throughout the infection period and cannot return to school until all three of the following criteria are met: • At least one day (24 hours) has passed since recovery (resolution of fever without the use of fever reducing medications) • The individual has improvement in symptoms (e.g., cough, shortness of breath) • At least ten days have passed since symptoms first appeared We will inform the affected IWA school level when a positive case emerges, and will specifically notify families whose child had direct contact exposure. The identity of the person who has tested positive will be kept confidential. Any individual who had close contact* with the person who tested positive must quarantine for 2 weeks prior to returning to campus. In the case of an employee or student who has symptoms that could be COVID-19 and does not get evaluated by a medical professional or tested for COVID-19, the individual is assumed to have COVID-19. The individual may not return to work/school until the individual has completed the same three-step criteria listed above. If the employee or student has symptoms that could be COVID-19 and wants to return to work/ school before completing the above stay-at-home period, the individual must obtain a medical professional’s note clearing the individual for return based on an alternative diagnosis or receive test confirmation that they are free of COVID-19. *Close contact is defined as being within 6 feet of someone who has COVID-19 for a cumulative total of 15 minutes or more over a 24-hour period starting from 2 days before illness onset (or, for asymptomatic patients, 2 days prior to specimen collection) until the time the patient is isolated.

HOW TO HELP FROM HOME Creating and maintaining a healthy campus environment is essential and is going to require everyone’s support and participation. Families can teach and reinforce these safety protocols from home.

Healthy Hygiene

Encourage frequent handwashing and the use of hand sanitizer. Practice coughing and sneezing in the elbow and add daily temperature checks to your morning routine.

Preventative Health Practices

Continue regular doctor visits and well-child appointments. Keep immunizations and physicals current and encourage physical activity and time outside. Remember that immunizations must be current and on file at school prior to the first day.

Emotional Health

Help children feel emotionally safe by asking how they are feeling and giving them space to share and ask questions. Continue reassuring them that the adults in their lives are there to support their well-being, both physically and emotionally. Maintain a routine at home to provide stability.

Health Protocols

Visually show and practice keeping six feet apart. Try different face masks or shields to find the ideal comfort and fit. Practice wearing a mask and handling and putting it on by the ear straps.

DISTANCE LEARNING & LEARNING FROM HOME

Distance Learning

As illustrated in March, April and May 2020, the distance learning provided at IWA is meaningful and impactful so IWA students are not experiencing the learning achievement gaps that have become problematic in other school settings. IWA teachers will continue to train and work toward various levels of Google certification over the summer months to be able to maximize the many resources and tools offered in Google classroom—the platform used for distance learning at IWA. Whether instruction takes place in the classroom or through distance learning, IWA teachers are committed to providing an excellent academic experience that continues to prepare students for their future coursework and college.

Learning From Home

Distance Learning (DL) will be available all year for students who have to quarantine at home and for students whose families prefer it even when school is in session on campus. Despite safety measures, some families may not feel comfortable sending their children back to the IWA campus when school opens in August and they will have the option to choose distance learning. To facilitate concurrent teaching (on-campus and through distance learning) teachers will be able to record lessons at school and post them for any DL students with whom they are working. Students who choose distance learning can only change between DL and on-campus learning once per quarter. Quarantined students participating in DL, can change to on-campus learning as soon as they are medically cleared to return to campus. Please note that the tuition rate does not change during distance learning. To sustain IWA’s quality education, we must continue to support our teachers and invest in innovative ways to deliver our curriculum to our students. In the event of an unforeseen campus closure, DL will be activated for all students. Campus closures can happen as a result of damage sustained by a hurricane, health concerns caused by a pandemic, or other unexpected disasters.