RETURN TO CAMPUS PLAN Safely welcoming Oaks back to Norfolk Collegiate
Returning to Campus Welcome, Oaks!
GUIDING OUR ACTIONS We committed to the
We look forward to having our community back to campus for the 2020-21 academic year!
following while researching best practices for welcoming our students, faculty and
This year will be different for every one, and we will navigate these unchartered times together in a safe, positive community that is true to our mission. We are #OakStrong, and we will be a place of learning, laughter and understanding in which everyone belongs. We’re committed to providing all students a consistently safe, developmentally appropriate learning environment in which they can receive an excellent education every day that honors the mission of the school and maintains a healthy environment for students, faculty and staff. Guided by our mission, we’re committed to delivering a great education and an even better experience through in-person instruction and our virtual learning program during Phase III. The health and well-being of our community—including our students, faculty, staff, parents, grandparents and alumni—are at the forefront of reopening our campuses under the guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Virginia Department of Health and the Commonwealth of Virginia. We’ve sought expert guidance from within and outside our community to guide the reopening process, including medical, instructional, student services, social-emotional support and sanitization expertise. We will continue to monitor health and safety regulations and will communicate adjustments and changes as necessary with our community and within this document.
Sincerely,
Scott G. Kennedy
staff safely back to school:
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Ensure the health, safety and wellbeing of our students, faculty and staff.
Comply with federal and state regulations.
Utilize guidance from the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, the Virginia Health Department, the American Association of Pediatrics and the Commonwealth’s Phased Re-opening Plan for K-12 Schools.
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Utilize guidance from our dedicated task force of internal and external experts.
FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL Based on Gov. Northam’s Phased Reopening Plan for K-12 Schools, we will resume in-person instruction on Aug. 27 for students (Aug. 31 for pre-Kindergarten 3). We are anticipating our last day of school for students in Grades K-11 will be June 9, 2021, and for pre-Kindergarten students July 30, 2021. We hope to remain on campus to deliver our students a great experience; however, we are preparing for potential interruptions and will adjust the school calendar as needed. Additional communications will be delivered to our families if changes are necessary.
SAFETY PROCEDURES Returning to school will look and feel different; however, we’re implementing many protocols to support the recommended physical distancing and best practices to remain open safely. A dedicated resource board will be available for parents, faculty and staff at NorfolkCollegiate.org. Additionally, this document will be updated as guidance changes. Physical distancing guidelines and other safety measures will impact class schedules and daily movement in the buildings to enable all students to be safe on campus every day. Guided by health and safety regulations for schools, some of our measures include, but are not limited to, the following:
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Face coverings will be required of all employees and all students (pre-K3 through 12) upon entering and exiting the building to mitigate exposure to COVID-19. In grade levels where face coverings are not developmentally appropriate (i.e. pre-K3 through Grade 2), physical distancing and strict segmenting of classes will be in place. Based on guidance from medical professionals, specifically pediatric specialists, we’re requiring face coverings all day for Grades 3-12.
Our janitorial and custodial staff, with expert guidance from The Budd Group, have received specialized training in preparation for our reopening. Faculty and staff also will receive professional development on safety procedures before students return to campus.
Daily health monitoring of our students and employees is one of the biggest responsibilities for the school. Students, faculty and staff will be required to submit daily temperature and symptom checks from home via the Magnus Health app, Magnus Mobile, which is available to download from your app store.
To support physical distancing, we are adapting our campuses, including spacing desks in classrooms, holding classes in alternative spaces, implementing directional traffic patterns, forgoing lockers and restricting gathering sizes in common areas.
DID YOU KNOW? We hosted town halls to provide our families with information outlining what to expect when we return to campus. We have recordings of those events on our Lower School Reopening Resource Board and our Middle and Upper School Reopening Resource Board on the school’s website.
PARENT & FAMILY RETURN TO SCHOOL While we look forward to resuming some normalcy for our community, we acknowledge this is a new normal. Since March, the school has engaged and collaborated with internal and external experts to determine the safest way to return our students and faculty to the classroom. We feel confident our plan is providing an environment that will mitigate risk, but we are not able to eliminate completely the risk of COVID-19 in our community. The social-emotional and physical well-being of our students remain our top priority, and that requires significant changes for the school to reopen safely. COVID-19 is a public health emergency. It will continue to be a risk to our community for the foreseeable future, and it will require adjustments and understanding to return students and teachers to the classroom. Parents and family members will NOT be permitted to enter the school beyond the designated outside drop-off and pick-up area. This change is for the safety of everyone present in the school and to limit to the extent possible everyone’s risk of exposure. Norfolk Collegiate is asking families and employees to complete a daily health screening in Magnus Mobile before 7:30 a.m. This is a critical component to helping the school community maintain a healthy environment and reduce risk to students, faculty and staff. Collegiate does not plan to implement a community testing program for COVID-19. Our efforts will be on mitigating contact and exposure through systematic precautions and physical distancing. Community members who are tested and receive positive tests are expected to inform the school. We will be in communication with the the Virginia Department of Health. Such communication will support our efforts to maintain a safe environment. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) “Interim Considerations for K-12 School Administrators for SARS-CoV-2 Testing,” “universal SARS-CoV-2 testing of all students and staff in school settings has not been systematically studied. It is not known if testing in school settings provides any additional reduction in person-to-person transmission of the virus beyond what would be expected with implementation of other infection preventive measures (e.g., social distancing, cloth face covering, hand washing, enhanced cleaning and disinfecting). Therefore, CDC does not recommend universal testing of all students and staff.”
The Norfolk Collegiate community is united in our efforts to keep students in the classroom and reduce exposure. We ask our families to help control students’ exposure outside of school. We strongly recommend our families comply with all state and local health and safety guidelines and follow any current CDC guidelines. Outside of work and school attendance, the CDC currently recommends limiting close contact with others outside of those living in your household, including refraining from all non-essential outings, wearing face coverings in all public areas and remaining 6 feet from all other people. During this time, no list of restrictions, guidelines or practices will remove 100% of the risk of exposure to COVID-19 as the virus can be transmitted by persons who are asymptomatic and before people show signs of infection.
FACE COVERINGS AT COLLEGIATE Norfolk Collegiate is following the guidance of the CDC and WHO for face coverings.
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All students, faculty and staff will be required to wear face coverings that cover the mouth, nose and chin. It is important to ensure that the mask can be held in place comfortably with little adjustment using elastic bands or ties. For example, bandannas and gaiter masks are not appropriate face coverings because they do not securely cover the nose, mouth and chin. Additionally, face coverings and masks should not have valves, vents, mesh, logos or writing on them in accordance with the CDC guidelines and the school’s dress code. It is important to ensure that the mask can be held in place comfortably with little adjustment using elastic bands or ties. Face shields alone are not appropriate as a substitute for a face covering. If your student decides to wear a face shield, a face covering must also be worn under the shield.
According to the WHO, the ideal combination of material for non-medical masks should include three layers as follows: 1. An innermost layer of a hydrophilic material (cotton or cotton blends); 2. An outermost layer made of hydrophobic material (polypropylene, polyester or their blends), which may limit external contamination from penetration through to the wearer’s nose and mouth; 3. A middle hydropholic layer of synthetic non-woven material such as polypropylene or a cotton layer which may enhance filtration or retain droplets. We recommend all students have more than one face covering for use throughout the week. Face coverings should be washed between uses.
Want more information? Please reach out to your student’s division if you have additional questions on appropriate face coverings. The CDC and WHO also have excellent resources on how to properly put on, wear and remove face coverings. Click the links below for more information on face coverings. CDC: How to Wear Masks WHO: Guidance on Wearing Face Coverings
Source: WHO
HEALTH & WELLNESS The health and well-being of our community—including our students, faculty, staff, parents, grandparents and alumni—are at the forefront of reopening our campuses under the guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Virginia Department of Health and the Commonwealth of Virginia. HEALTH CLINICS We have expanded our health clinics and now have designated clinics in each division. Additionally, we will have a dedicated nursing professional on each campus. Our clinics will allow for effective and safe treatment of medical needs, from everyday asthma treatments and Band-Aids to having dedicated “isolation” rooms, which will be utilized for potential COVID-19 patients, per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines. Please note that a nurse or other adult will remain with students while in any of the clinics.
HEALTH PROCEDURES Students, faculty and staff will be required to submit daily temperature and symptom checks from home via the Magnus Health app, Magnus Mobile, which is available to download from your app store. To attend school, students must be free from COVID-19 symptoms. If during the day, your child appears ill or any of the following symptoms appear, your child will be separated from the rest of the student population and moved to a supervised, secure area. You will be contacted, and your child MUST be picked up from the facility within 30 minutes of being notified. Symptoms include: • Fever of 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit or higher • Dry cough • Shortness of breath • Chills
• Loss of taste or smell • Sore throat • Muscle aches
Additionally, Norfolk Collegiate will not administer Ibuprofen or Acetaminophen this year without a healthcare provider’s order for a specific condition. These medications may mask symptoms of COVID-19. Students who are experiencing symptoms should remain at home and be monitored for changes or worsening symptoms. If these symptoms occur while at school, the student will need to be picked up from school within 30 minutes of the parents being notified. In the event the parent or guardian is unavailable, the school will call the student’s emergency contact. Once the parent arrives, the nurse will bring the child to the vehicle for dismissal. The parent or guardian will be asked to contact a health professional for further guidance. We recommend parents make plans for who will pick up ill students from school. Once that plan is made, please ensure all contact information, including emergency contact information, is up to date in Magnus Health.
SCHOOL DRESS We understand that our students will be adjusting to a “new normal” this year. To make students more comfortable while learning in a new environment, our middle and upper school students will be permitted to follow Friday dress guidelines all year. Those changes include: FOR BOYS • No ties are required; however, shirts must be tucked in. • Khaki or Bermuda-style shorts may be worn with a belt every day. • Athletic shorts are not permitted. FOR GIRLS • Khaki or Bermuda-style shorts that are not shorter than four inches above the knee may be worn every day. • Athletic shorts are not permitted. Please click here to view the middle and upper school student dress guidelines.
HEALTH STARTS AT HOME We acknowledge that safety starts at home. To assist with a smooth transition, we are asking all families to take some simple steps at home to prepare students for their return to school:
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WEAR YOUR FACE COVERINGS FOR EXTENDED PERIODS OF TIME We ask that students start wearing face coverings throughout the day and for longer periods of time to help students adjust to having them on throughout the day at school. This also will help in identifying whether face coverings fit properly and establishing proper face coverings procedures.
PRACTICE WASHING YOUR HANDS We recommend families also incorporate additional hand washing and hand sanitization into their daily routines. Please review the proper way to wash hands with your child (this involves washing with soap and water for 20 seconds).
PRACTICE YOUR DAILY HEALTH SCREENINGS We recommend our families incorporate the daily health screenings through the Magnus Health App before school starts. The app (Magnus Mobile) is available in your app store, and we recommend all families download it before school starts. Once school begins, daily screenings will be required to be submitted by 7:30 a.m. for students to be able to attend in-person instruction. If you have opted for virtual instruction, this is not necessary.
PRACTICE SUBMITTING YOUR STUDENT’S LUNCH REQUEST We recommend our families, faculty and staff download the Nutrislice App (available in the app store) prior to the start of school. Additional communication will be shared on how to use the app.
UPDATE YOUR HEALTH & CONTACT INFORMATION All families must complete all of the Magnus Health requirements for the 2020-21 school year before the start of school. Please ensure all of your emergency contact information is accurate and complete in your child’s records.
CONSIDER WHERE YOU TRAVEL We recommend all of our families, faculty and staff avoid traveling to high risk areas two weeks prior to the start of school. If you have been to a high-risk area or have been in contact with someone who has COVID-19, please watch for signs of potential infection and self-quarantine.
OTHER AT-HOME ACTIVITIES There are many ways our families can continue to reinforce safety protocols at home:
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Practice coughing and sneezing into the elbow or a tissue. Then, throw the used tissue in the trash.
Continue your regular doctor visits and keep immunizations current.
Model good physical distancing by keeping six feet apart and wearing face coverings.
Talk to your children about what school will be like, ask them how they are feeling and don’t hesitate to reach out to our counselors if you need support: Jan Weintraub, lower and middle school counselor, jweintraub@norfolkcollegiate.org Helen Younce, upper school counselor, hyounce@norfolkcollegiate.org
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Consider creating a designated a space for your child’s school supplies and textbooks at home. Being able to maintain a routine at home will help with a smooth transition to school.
WHEN TO STAY HOME Knowing when to keep your child home from school is the most important part of keeping our campus open, safe and healthy. To assist parents, we have created key protocols to help determine when their children should stay home.
Is your child experiencing ANY of the following symptoms? Is someone in your household currently positive with COVID-19 or awaiting a test result?
Y E S
1. Stay home 2. Call your doctor 3. Inform the school
• • • • • • •
Fever of 100.4 or higher Diarrhea Vomiting Shortness of breath Difficulty breathing Sore throat New cough not related to allergies
• Chills • Fatigue • Muscle/body aches not related to exercise • Headache • New loss of smell/taste • Congestion/runny nose • Nausea
Y E S 1. Stay home 2. Be evaluated by a licensed health professional 3. Inform the school 4. Rest and recover
Are you currently positive with COVID-19?
YES
N O
Call your division’s school nurse before returning to school.
Has your child Call your division’s been symptom free, school nurse the without medication, day before for 24 hours and returning to school been and provide YES evaluated by a documentation licensed health from professional? a licensed health professional.
Quarantine and contact the school nurse for guidance on when you may return to school.
QUARANTINE PROTOCOL In the event that Norfolk Collegiate is notified of a confirmed or suspected case of COVID-19, the school will contact the local health department and will follow their recommendations.
Norfolk Collegiate’s quarantine policy will be guided by the Virginia Department of Health, the Norfolk Health Department and the recommendations of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Quarantine will be directed by the health department and the student’s health care provider. Parents should be aware that the minimum amount of time required for a person who is exposed to a positive case and directed to quarantine could be 14 days. Norfolk Collegiate will strictly adhere to this guidance. Quarantine will depend on exposure to a suspected or positive case and will vary if a person becomes ill during the quarantine period and is then directed to self isolate. The CDC defines exposure as being within 6 feet of the infected individual, with or without a mask, for longer than 15 minutes. Seating assignments within the classrooms and strict adherence to face covering and physical distancing are critical to facilitating contact tracing if Collegiate is notified of a confirmed case of COVID-19. Additional guidance on when to return to school or work can be found here.
NEW SCHOOLWIDE PROCEDURES Norfolk Collegiate is implementing a number of mitigation strategies to increase the safety and health of our students, faculty and staff. We have protocols in place and have adjusted operating schedules in all of our divisions to allow these protocols to be implemented, including reducing group sizes, limiting the number of people students come into contact with while on campus and more.
REDUCE GROUP SIZE • • • • • • • • •
Implementing staggered arrival and dismissal locations Eliminating large gatherings of students and faculty Serving lunch in physically distanced areas Eliminating the use of lockers and locker rooms Limiting the number of students in the restrooms at one time Offering extended care on a sign-up basis only Controlling the flow of hallway traffic via one-way directional use and reducing time in hallways Eliminating off-campus field trips Including cameras in our classrooms for our virtual learning program
REDUCE CONTACT GROUPS
• Providing fewer shared materials • Implementing cohort groups in the lower school and keeping middle and upper school students separate to mitigate contact • Maintaining physical distancing in classrooms and hallways • Eliminating visitor and volunteer access to campus (by virtual appointment only)
WHAT’S NOT CHANGING • • • •
Continuing to offer challenging academics Continuing to provide innovative parent programming (albeit in a virtual format) Continuing to provide a great experience for our students Continuing to provide state-of-the-art instruction for our students
QUESTIONS? If you have questions regarding Collegiate’s reopening plan, please email CollegiateReopening@norfolkcollegiate.org.
ARRIVAL & DISMISSAL PROCEDURES Norfolk Collegiate has adjusted operating schedules to allow for staggered arrival and dismissals through various entrances and exits to ensure safe arrival and dismissal. All students (pre-K-Grade 12), faculty and staff must wear face coverings when on campus, including when entering and leaving the building, and submit cleared daily health screening prior to entering the buildings. VISITORS & VOLUNTEERS Volunteers, visitors and parents are not permitted into the building. • Early Pick-Up | Contact your child’s division and a staff member will walk your child to your car. • Late Arrival | Contact your child’s division and a staff member will escort your child into the building. Lower School Arrival K-Grade 5 arrive between 8-8:30 a.m. | Pre-K arrive between 8:30-8:45 a.m. • Pre-K-Grade 2 enter though the doors closest to the playground. • Grades 3-5 enter through the doors closest to the administrative area. Middle School Arrival Arrive between 8-8:30 a.m. | First class begins at 8:30 a.m. • Students must enter and exit only through the middle school doors. Upper School Arrival Arrive between 8-8:30 a.m. | First class begins at 8:30 a.m. • Juniors and seniors must enter through the Meredith Center breezeway. Seniors will park in the lot behind the Meredith Center. Juniors will park in the far lot by the Mathas Family Fields. • Sophomores must enter through the side-by-side doors near the Watt-Baker Gymnasium next the Scribner Belltower. • Freshmen must enter through the main lobby doors by the Scribner Belltower. Lower School Dismissal K-Grade 5 dismissed at 3 p.m. • K-Grade 2 will remain in their rooms and will be called as cars arrive. • Grades 3-5 will be assigned to locations around the carpool area. • Pre-K students will be dismissed to the carpool area at 3:15 p.m. • Name placards must be used in order to facilitate a safe and orderly dismissal. Middle School Dismissal Staggered dismissals begin at 3:10 p.m. • Students must exit through the middle school doors. • All aftercare students must be picked up by 5 p.m. Upper School Dismissal Staggered dismissals by grade will begin at 3:10 p.m. • Students must exit through the same doors in which they entered the school. • All students must be picked up and/or leave by 5 p.m.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION Norfolk Collegiate is implementing protocols to minimize the number of interactions that our students, faculty and staff experience in a given day to reduce the potential risk of exposure. As a result, we will be implementing cohort groups for our lower school students and minimizing congestion in the hallways, carpool lanes and more. Below is a brief overview of some key areas of Norfolk Collegiate operations for the 2020-21 academic year.
LUNCHES & SNACKS
FLIK Dining will provide daily food service to all students via pre-ordered, individually packaged lunches. Parents will need to submit their children’s lunch requests weekly via the Nutrislice App. We will communicate additional details before school beings. Additionally, we ask students bring labeled, refillable water bottles to use daily.
BUS TRANSPORTATION
Morning and afternoon bus service will be provided by Tranquest, our transportation partner. In addition to face coverings being required for all riders, the capacity on school buses will be reduced and assigned seating will be required. Registration was emailed to families in July.
EXTENDED CARE & AFTERCARE ATHLETICS
The Virginia High School League, which governs interscholastic competitions for all public and independent schools in the state, has postponed fall sports. Our immediate governing body, the Virginia Independent Schools Athletic Association, voted to allow each conference to make its own decisions. As a result, the Tidewater Conference of Independent Schools has decided to postpone fall athletics and instead have three condensed seasons starting in November: • Winter season will be Nov. 18-Jan. 30. • Fall season will be Feb. 1-March 27. • Spring season will be March 29-May 22. Student-athletes will not be able to participate in athletic practices or competitions until a valid physical form has been uploaded into Magnus Health and a hard copy provided to Director of Athletics Jon Hall or Assistant Director of Athletics Taylor Kelly.
Before and after school extended care is governed by the Virginia Department of Social Services. We will offer aftercare for pre-K3 to Grade 5 until 5 p.m. every day in the lower school and for students in Grades 6-8 in the middle school. The early closing will allow for enhanced cleaning. Parents are required to register their children for aftercare so we can plan and appropriately staff the program to allow for physical distancing. Building access after school in the upper school, outside of school programs and events, is being examined so proper physical distancing protocols and supervision can be maintained.
RECESS
Students in pre-Kindergarten through Grade 5 will still have daily recess. To ensure only one class in a space at a time, each class has been assigned a specific area.
HYBRID-FLEXIBLE LEARNING MODEL While we are certain that Norfolk Collegiate families share our belief that learning in-person on campus provides the most effective instructional experience for students, we understand that some families may need the option for their children to learn from home due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In recognition of the unprecedented circumstances presented this year, we will offer a virtual option for instruction as an opt-in program that parents may choose on a quarterly basis.
MIDDLE & UPPER SCHOOL HYBRID-FLEXIBLE OPTION In the middle and upper school, we feel our students are sufficiently independent, with proper support from school and home, for successful learning in a virtual environment. Therefore, we will offer this option to families who have underlying health conditions, as well as to those who may choose it for other reasons related to the pandemic. It is important to note that while we will work diligently to ensure that our students enrolled in the virtual learning opt-in program have a positive and productive educational experience that allows them to progress through our curriculum, some aspects of the virtual program will not be identical to the in-person experience on campus. Our goal for the virtual learning opt-in program is to provide students the opportunity to continue to progress through their courses with a hybrid-flexible model of learning. The virtual learning option will provide a hybrid of live classroom instruction and participation opportunities for most courses, as well as remote access to all course materials and resources. The program will be flexible in that families will have the opportunity to choose each quarter if they wish to opt-in to virtual instruction. Click here to learn more or opt-in to the hybrid-flexible option.
LOWER SCHOOL HYBRID-FLEXIBLE OPTION At the lower school, we realize children learn best when they are engaged in educational activities with their classmates. By having students interact daily with one another, they are able to develop key skills such as inquiry, language, knowledge acquisition and teamwork. Because this daily interaction is so critical to our teaching and learning programs, we are only offering virtual learning to students who have previously been diagnosed with a medical condition that could be impacted by the COVID-19. It’s our goal to support our students with a manageable and structured learning format that will be beneficial for their learning outcomes. This digital learning format will be a hybrid of synchronous and asynchronous activities for these students to complete daily. With the assistance of their parents, students will be expected to work at the pace according to the deadlines created by the classroom teacher. The students will be able to view their daily instruction by attending real-time synchronous lessons that will be accessed through Zoom during specified times in the teacher’s classroom schedule. It’s up to the student and parent to attend these lessons so instruction may continue while the child is absent from school. Students will be responsible for the completion of all assigned work (asynchronous) within the allotted time given. The teacher(s) will meet via Zoom once a week with the students for a 30-minute period to review instruction with the student outside of class. Click here to learn more or opt-in to the hybrid-flexible option.
OUR MISSION We develop critical thinkers, doers and explorers through innovative, engaging instruction in an inclusive and supportive learning community.
