Reopening Friends: Campus Updates / Fall 2020 As we prepare SFFS for reopening, our team has made numerous updates and improvements around campus to keep the health, safety, and wholeness of our Friends at the forefront of our 2020–2021 planning. We hope that this guide helps our community to learn more about the precautions we’ve undertaken at 250 Valencia before students return to campus.
THE FRONT DESK The Front Desk has received a COVID makeover, and is now outfitted with a plexiglass plate that spans the entire desk area. The desk also has a safety gate now at its entrance, instructions on social distancing, as well as a no-touch hand sanitizing station. We will also cut down on traffic at the front desk with the onboarding of our new school health coordinator, who will adminster all first aid care in their office so that that is no longer the responsibility of the front desk receptionist. All faculty, staff, and students will be expected to wear masks at all times while on campus (as modeled by Claudia here!), and appropriate distancing (six feet) will be maintained whenever possible in classrooms, in common areas (like hallways), and on the Front Yard.
TOUCHLESS HAND SANITIZING AND WATER BOTTLE STATIONS Over the past few months, our Facilities Team has installed nearly 100 touchless hand sanitizing stations throughout the SFFS campus. There is one station in each classroom, and they are located in all common spaces, making them easily accessible to faculty, staff, and students. In addition, they’ve installed three touchless water bottle filling stations (one on each floor). Manual water fountains will be taped off and not in use for the foreseeable future. Touchless soap and paper towel dispensers have been added to our school restrooms, in addition to nearly 80 motion-sensor sink faucets located throughout the campus. We hope that these measures will all help to keep contact in common spaces to a minimum and serve as an important reminder to everyone to continuously apply hand sanitizer throughout the school day, making it part of our normal routine.
OUTDOOR SINK STATIONS The school has also installed 12 new touchless sink stations around the Front Yard to accomodate the frequent hand-washing that will happen before students return inside after some much-needed outdoor playtime and relaxation, and sinks will be accessible on both the North and South sides of the Front Yard. We have also reconfigured the garden area to create more space for students to spend time outside.
DISTANCED CLASSROOMS Finally, we have reconfigured all of our classrooms in both the Lower and Middle Schools to allow for appropriate social distancing between students, with desks placed at least six feet apart and facing the same direction (175 new desks were purchased to make this possible). Each classroom and learning space is equipped with a touchless hand sanitizing station and an air purifier. Classrooms have also been cleared of soft and upholstered furniture, as these surfaces are difficult to clean and disinfect. With these changes in place, classrooms will accomodate recommended cohorts and one teacher, which means that we will also be using other spaces throughout our campus as classrooms as we phase grades and groups of students back onto campus. The ED room, the gym, and other areas that haven’t traditionally been used as classrooms will all be set up to accomodate students with the same distancing measures in place. Strict hygiene and cleaning regimens will be maintained at school, with classrooms and outdoor equipment cleaned and sanitized frequently, and the entire campus thoroughly cleaned every night.