COVID-19 Protocols – 2021/2022 School Year
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Physical Distancing
1-Drop-off and pickup will occur outside of the building. Parents/Caregivers and students will line up 3ft apart and enter one by one. Parents and caregivers will drop off their children at the red door. To minimize potential exposure, we ask that families not walk children to the classroom. Instead, a member of our staff will escort your child to their classroom. (Parents of children in the 2’s program will be allowed to drop off their children at their classroom the first week of school until the separation process is over)
2-Maryel School will not be hosting any special events in-person that bring members of our community together across the groupings of children and adults that exist day to day to keep children and educators safe. All annual events, such as curriculum nights and parent-teachers conferences, will occur virtually.
3-We are not planning any field trips. We will reassess our plans for the second semester based on public health guidance later in the fall.
4-Only essential visitors will be allowed in the school.
5-We will maximize physical distance during meal service as much as possible.
6-Physical activities that encourage physical closeness will be limited.
Masks
General rule:
All persons in the building who are not maintaining a social distance of 6 feet must wear an acceptable face covering indoors. Acceptable face coverings include but are not limited to cloth-based face coverings (e.g., homemade sewn, quick cut, bandana), and surgical masks that cover both the mouth and nose.
Students:
Face coverings must always be worn when entering “public areas” such as hallways, stairwells, bathrooms, or other spaces multiple individuals or groups may pass through, or in situations where social distancing may be difficult to maintain, such as entering/exiting classrooms with others, or in narrow halls.
Maryel School will allow students to remove their face covering during instruction, meals, and for breaks so long as they maintain appropriate social distancing.
We ask that students bring their own face covering to support some autonomy of choice for students and to allow families to choose the most comfortable fit for their children. Students should have enough masks to wear a clean mask each day, and to have at least one back-up mask at school. Masks must have the student’s name inside.
Staff:
Teachers must always wear an acceptable face covering while in the classroom with students. The school will provide face coverings for staff and faculty.
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Hygiene, Cleaning, and Disinfection
The school’s cleaning company is primarily responsible for cleaning and disinfection. A comprehensive COVID-19-specific cleaning plan has been developed for the school, per state guidelines.
Per DOH guidelines, custodial staff will keep logs that include the date, time, and scope of cleaning and disinfection. In addition to the work of our cleaning company, classrooms and common areas will be stocked with CDC-approved disinfectant spray so that teachers, assistant teachers and other members of our staff can also contribute to cleaning efforts at periodic intervals during the day. Extra time has been built into the schedule for hygiene maintenance, both, handwashing and the disinfection/cleaning of surfaces.
Staff and children will be reminded to practice healthy hand hygiene; wash hands often with soap and water or use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer if soap and water are not available.
Mandatory Daily Screenings
For those entering the building, including students, faculty, staff, and where applicable, essential visitors, Maryel School will implement a mandatory health screening to identify any individual(s) who may have COVID-19 or who may have been exposed to the virus.
Our health check / screening process will have the following components:
All individuals entering the building must have their temperature checked before they enter the building each day – including, at home, prior to departing for school. Every individual will need to confirm that their daily temperature is 100.0°F, or lower, as part of the Health Check / Screening Process. Additionally, the school will conduct temperature checks for all individuals upon arrival at the school building. If any individual presents a temperature of greater than 100.0°F, the individual will be denied entry into the building.
A daily, on site, screening questionnaire to be completed upon arrival. This questionnaire will be mandatory for any student, faculty or staff member that is scheduled to be in the building that day. In order to prevent individuals from intermingling in close or proximate contact with each other prior to completion of the screening and temperature check, we require that individuals line up 3ft apart and enter one by one.
The daily health check screening will provide a short list of specific symptoms or situations that might indicate a COVID-19 + status, and the individual will certify whether or not any apply to them that morning.
Any individual who screens positive for COVID-19 exposure or symptoms at the school will be sent home with instructions to contact their health care provider for evaluation and possible testing.
Any individual who shows symptoms of COVID-19 during the school day will be immediately isolated in our isolation room until the parent/guardian or emergency contact arrives. If this person is an adult member of our staff or faculty, they will be required to leave the school facility immediately. If they don’t feel well enough to leave the school, we will contact their family to pick them up.
Maryel School of New York has designated a room as our isolation room for safely caring for students, faculty or staff members if they develop symptoms of COVID-19 during the school day.
Infected Individuals
If COVID-19 cases are discovered at school, the immediate response will include closing off areas or classes where individuals were infected and engaging in a process of “deep cleaning” either in the affected area, portions of the school, or more broadly the entire school, as determined in consultation with DOH guidelines or conversations with our local DOH contact.
The school may choose to modify operations prior to instituting school-wide closures to help mitigate a rise in cases.
Please note that medical privacy laws explicitly prohibit the school from revealing the name of the individual who has tested positive for COVID-19. We may only reveal that a student or faculty member has come in close or proximate contact with an unnamed person, and how we came to know this information (school tracking systems, governmental contact tracing, or another mechanism).
Returning to school after a positive test
Students and staff members will be allowed to return to school after a positive test after:
– 10 days since symptoms first appeared and
– 24 hours with no fever without the use of fever-reducing medications and
– Other symptoms of COVID-19 are improving
Close contact with a positive test
Following the CDC recommendations:
Any individual who has been in close contact (within 6 feet of someone for a cumulative total of 15 minutes or more over a 24-hour period) with someone who has COVID-19, needs to be quarantined, unless he/she has been fully vaccinated. People who are fully vaccinated do NOT need to quarantine after contact with someone who had COVID-19 unless they have symptoms. However, fully vaccinated people should get tested 3-5 days after their exposure, even if they don’t have symptoms and wear a mask indoors in public for 14 days following exposure or until their test result is negative.
