2021-2022 Health and Safety Guidelines by Veritas Christian Academy

2021-2022 Academic Year Health and Safety Guidelines

Health and Safety Guidelines - 2021-22 Academic Year

Principles For The Health and Safety Guidelines After a highly successful 2020-2021 Academic Year with no documented community spread within our community, Veritas wanted to continue in providing a safe yet engaging learning environment for our students for the coming fall. With this in mind, the following are the guiding principles that the school is following to begin the 2021-2022 Academic Year: • Protect the health and safety of students, employees, and the entire school community • Utilize guidance from expert sources, including but not limited to: • Veritas Medical Advisory Committee • Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) • Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) • Harris County Public Health (HCPH) • Texas Education Agency (TEA) • American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) • Establish effective uses of spaces on campus to support suggested spacing of students and teachers • Return to more normalcy while still maintaining a safe and healthy environment • Set clear expectations for all members of our community

Message from the Medical Advisory Committee The Medical Advisory Committee (MAC) had hoped that the use of masks at school would be unnecessary with the steady decline in COVID-19 cases over the late spring and summer. As parents, we recognize the difficulties inherent in the use of masks in school and how it affects communication, social development, and the school environment. We personally had enjoyed the ability to relax some of the rules for distancing and masking in our daily lives. However, in the last few weeks, we have experienced the profound impact of the Delta variant on our city as we have watched emergency rooms, hospital beds, and ICUs fill up rapidly with both children and adults. Within our Texas Medical Center (TMC) hospitals, testing positivity rates have more than tripled this month and it is unclear when Delta will peak. Our children’s hospitals, relatively spared by prior waves of COVID-19, have seen up to a sevenfold increase of COVID-19 positivity with the new variant in hospitalized children. While by no means certain, there is real concern that Delta is more contagious and may cause more significant and prolonged illness in children than prior strains. After much prayer and a deep review of the COVID-19 data affecting our community, the MAC was unanimous in its recommendation that the school year begin with the same fundamental practices of social distancing and universal masking that allowed us to complete the entire academic year with minimal interruptions to the high quality in-person education we all aspire for our children. While there are some unknowns, the knowledge we have at present indicates that schools adhering to standard social distancing and masking protocols have very low transmission rates of COVID-19. This is not a recommendation that we take lightly and the MAC is dedicated to meeting on a monthly basis to review our local data with hopes that we can modify Veritas’ policies as conditions improve again. At this present time, we believe this is a necessary step to ensure a successful and safe launch of the school year for our students and their families.

Health and Safety Guidelines - 2021-22 Academic Year

How You Can Help Much of the success that Veritas realized from the 2020-21 Academic Year was due to the cooperation and support of every member of our school community. We were able to begin and end the school year with no large scale class quarantines or school closings due to COVID-19. In order to try to repeat this success, we again are asking members of our community to help make the 2021-2022 Academic Year as successful, if not more, than last year by helping to reinforce a few protocols for safety and health.

Teaching healthy hygiene practices: • • • •

Avoid touching your face - especially your eyes, nose, and mouth. Encourage frequent hand washing especially before and after eating. Use hand sanitizer when hand washing is unavailable. Practice coughing and sneezing into elbows.

Maintain Preventative Health Practices:

• Ask how they are feeling and give them space to share and ask questions. • Maintain a routine at home to provide stability. • Continue reassuring them that the adults in their lives are there to support their well-being, both physically and emotionally. • Reach out for help.

Additional Programming Information Veritas will be resuming our regularly planned programs. Each program will maintain the same safety and health guidelines as outlined in the 2021-2022 Health and Safety Guidelines. Fine Arts

Fine Arts programming will continue to resume following safety and health protocols outlined herein. This includes resuming all planned productions and classes including the Veritas Conservatory of Music.

Before and After Care

Before Care from 7:00-7:35 AM will again be offered beginning of the 2021-2022 academic year. After School Care will continue to be offered with additional staffing and maintaining safety and health guidelines.

Athletics

Middle School students will continue interscholastic athletic competition as a carryover from the 2020-2021 Academic Year. Any safety or health guidelines will be outlined per sport and will be communicated for each individual sport and season.

Lunches and Snacks

Preprepared hot lunches will be available for purchase. Students are able to continue bringing their own lunches to school. With the ample space that Veritas has on campus, students will be able to have safe lunch periods which will include indoor or outdoor options.

Visitors and Volunteering

In order to minimize risk and maintain a healthy environment we will begin the school year by limiting access to campus to students, teachers, and invited guests and visitors. However, Veritas is committed to building community and will resume many of its regularly scheduled community events.

Fields and Cultural Expeditions Program (CEP)

Currently, all local field trips, including the Middle School Orientation Retreat, will be postponed and Cultural Expeditions Program trips will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. Should field trips or CEP trips resume, all safety and health guidelines outlined in this plan will be followed. Additionally, consideration for each destination’s governmental guidelines will be used in determining more protocols as needed.

Health and Safety Guidelines - 2021-22 Academic Year

Health and Safety Guidelines Masking

Masking is highly recommended indoors.

Physical Distancing

Students will be seated with spacing at a minimum of 3 feet to minimize transmission risk but allowed to interact more closely for limited periods based on the need of the activity.

Cohorts to Minimize the Mixing of Students

Academic schedules and classroom use will be designed to keep students in smaller, consistent groups during the school day. This will help to mitigate risk of viral transmission and allow for discrete cohorts to quarantine in the event of infection in order to prevent affecting the entire school community.

Hand Hygiene

Students and faculty will follow a regular schedule of hand washing or use of hand sanitizer throughout the day. Automated hand sanitizer dispensers are available in every classroom and throughout the campus, mainly by entryways and in the hallways.

Cleaning/ Disinfection Schedule

Daily cleaning practices will be compliant with CDC recommendations, including the types of cleaning products used and the frequency of cleaning. Special attention will be paid to the cleaning of high touch surfaces throughout the school day.

Home Health Screening

Families are asked to monitor their household members for any symptoms of illness and avoid bringing sick children to school. Students with any symptoms of illness will be separated from other students, and parents/guardians will be contacted to arrange for pick-up should the Veritas medical staff deem necessary.

Sickness Policy and Enforcement Practices

Rules regarding the Veritas sickness policy for students and employees will be enhanced and strictly enforced to minimize the number of sick people on campus. Any non-COVID related sicknesses should follow the current sickness policy as outlined in the Parent-Student Handbook.

* See page 7 to view all Medical Advisory Committee members. 4

Health and Safety Guidelines - 2021-22 Academic Year

Health and Safety Guidelines (continued) Contact Tracing

To limit the spread of COVID-19 to our school community, we will implement contact tracing of those infected and their contacts within guidelines given by Harris County Department Public Health.

Cafeteria/Food Service

Boxed hot lunches will be available for purchase and will be ready for individual student distribution. Students are able to continue bringing their own lunches to school. Veritas has ample space to provide for safe lunch periods and include indoor or outdoor options.

Other Safe Classroom Practices

Teaching methods will be adjusted to try to minimize shared equipment or learning materials between students. Classroom practices will reduce transfer of objects between home and school. Infrastructure will be put in place to minimize surfaces which cannot easily be disinfected.

Self Care and Well-being

Pedagogy and classroom practices will provide greater attention to student mental health and well-being to build resilience and cope with the stress or anxiety students may be experiencing.

Visitors on Campus

In order to minimize risk and maintain a healthy environment we will begin the school year by limiting access to campus to students, teachers, and invited guests and visitors. However, Veritas is committed to building community and hopes to resume many of its regularly scheduled community events.

Physical Education and Recess

Veritas will continue to offer PE and Recess to our students consistent with the most up-to-date safety and guidelines.

Chapels and Community Events

Chapels will be offered to students in-person and departmentalized for each division of Veritas. At this time, chapels will only be for students, faculty, and staff to minimize risk and to maintain a healthy environment. Community events will begin to resume to provide for normalcy, but may be modified if needed.

All guidelines and safety measures are subject to change in correlation to the climate of the COVID-19 pandemic. Veritas Administration will make changes if necessary. 5

Health and Safety Guidelines - 2021-22 Academic Year

Deciding if Your Child Should Stay Home Parents agreeing and knowing when to keep children home from school is a very important part of keeping our campus healthy. To help, we have outlined key protocols to help families determine when a child should stay home. All NO answers mean that your child may return to campus.

Is a member of your household positive for COVID-19, awaiting test results, or experiencing COVIDlike symptoms?

Is the student unwell with COVID-like symptoms?

Does the student have a fever of 100.4° F (infrared) or 99.4 ° F (axillary) or higher?

Has the student been fever free, without medication, for 24 hours?

YES

1. Stay Home 2. Call your doctor 3. Inform Veritas

1. 2. 3. 4.

Stay Home Call your doctor Inform Veritas Rest and recover

Call the school nurse the day before returning to campus.

IMPORTANT: If a student tests positive with COVID-19, they cannot return to campus until after at least 10 days. Exposed individuals cannot return to campus until after at least 10 days without testing, or after 7 days and receive a negative test result (test must occur on day 5 or later). Subject to change based on CDC Guidelines. Exceptions apply for individuals who are fully vaccinated. 6

Health and Safety Guidelines - 2021-22 Academic Year

Veritas Medical Advisory Committee Members Daniel Leung, MD, FAAP, FAASLD Texas Children’s Hospital Director, Pediatric Hepatology and Liver Transplant Medicine Director of Viral Hepatitis Program Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Baylor College of Medicine Shelise Edwards, MD, FACEP SignatureCare Emergency Center Houston Regional Medical Director Ellen Fremion, MD, FAAP, FACP St. Luke’s Health/Baylor McNair-Transition Medicine Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine and Pediatrics, Baylor College of Medicine/Texas Children’s Hospital David McCants, MD Harris Health System Ben Taub Hospital Internal Medicine Specialist Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine Gigi Ninan, BSN, RN Texas Children’s Hospital