Together - A Pathway Forward

Together A Pathway Forward

Pope Francis Preparatory School

Reopening Plan 2020-2021 School Year

Table of Contents Reopening Objective ......................................................................................3 Reopening Committee.....................................................................................4 Resources and References...............................................................................5 Foundational Principles..................................................................................6 Reopening Classifications and Status...........................................................7 Resources and Operations.............................................................................10 Illness................................................................................................................11 Contact.............................................................................................................13

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Reopening objective Pope Francis Preparatory School (PFPS) will reopen for the 2020-2021 school year with fulltime in-person classes, while providing a remote learning opportunity to students, if families choose this option. On a daily basis, the school will review the health and assess the safety of all students and personnel and will make adjustments to in-person and remote learning if/when necessary.

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Reopening Committee A reopening committee of school personnel representing various roles and responsibilities was formed in June and meets weekly. The committee discusses and reviews policies, practices, and procedures for a safe 2020-2021 reopening of school. This Reopening Plan document is one outcome from their work. The reopening committee includes the following personnel: Mr. Brodeur - faculty Mrs. Fenton - reception Mrs. Geiger - assistant head of school Mr. Geoffrey - director of technology Dr. Harrington - head of school Mr. Hollwedel - faculty and dean of students Mrs. Jackson - school nurse Mrs. O’Connell - faculty and operations coordinator for transportation and food service Mrs. Scibelli - guidance counselor and dean of students

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Resources and References The following sample of resources helped to inform the development of our reopening plan: Massachusetts DESE Initial Fall Reopening Guidance: https://www.mass.gov/doc/dese-fall-reopening-guidance/download CDC Guidance on School Opening: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/ schools-childcare/index.html Johns Hopkins Reopening Policy Tracker for K-12 Schools: https://hub.jhu.edu/2020/07/09/reopening-schools-policy-tracker/ NEASC COVID-19 Resources: https://www.neasc.org/covid19-resources PFPS Reopening Survey (July 2020) data and comments School Reopening Plan from the Diocese of Springfield Catholic Schools Office

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Foundational Principles The following foundational principles have been, and will continue to be, considered to determine our strategy and guide our thought process. ● This school year is likely to be disrupted by COVID-19 - while we cannot control the containment, mitigation, and response to this pandemic, we must prepare as if the entire school year (and possibly subsequent years) may be affected. ● Conditions and individual comfort levels are going to be dynamic and unpredictable and may vary by season - conditions in our local community, state, and country may change rapidly and in an unpredictable way. As a result, we must create a plan for the entire school year that can adapt to changes. ● Overall guidance for safety protocols is the responsibility of the governor and the MA DPH - we have the ability with local school governance to determine our pathway for safe return to school short of any directive or executive order by the Governor. However, it is the responsibility of the state government to provide accurate, timely guidance upon which we rely to make local decisions. ● Remote learning must be rigorous, accessible, and strive to mirror in-person instruction we must acknowledge (verified by parent survey data) that some parents and students may choose not to return to in-person, on-campus classes at the start of the school year. While our objective remains a high quality Catholic education, we must also acknowledge that remote learning is not an exact replica of the in-person, on-campus environment but similar learning outcomes for students must occur whenever possible. ● Learning outcomes, standards, and progress must remain intact - we must not dilute our learning standards and outcomes no matter the modality through which students experience learning. We must invest in the resources necessary to instill confidence in students and families to return safely to in-person, on-campus learning. ● Each member of the PFPS community (students, parents, personnel) must be committed to our objective and willing to be flexible for this school year to be successful - while each member of our school community must make choices rooted in safety and based on their own comfort level, the success of the school year hinges on individual accountability as it contributes to our overall objective.

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Reopening Classifications and Status Given the changing and unpredictable nature of this pandemic in our community, PFPS will use the following classification system to indicate which level of access we are in along with the corresponding safety protocols for each level.

The decision to move between each level will be informed by the reopening committee, administration, and various data points in our community. Some of this data may include: surveys, surrounding community data trends, federal, state, and local directives that impact our school, case counts, mortality data, positivity rates, hospitalizations, faculty/staff illness, transportation availability, etc.

As of the date of this publication (7-24-20), PFPS is planning to reopen school under the BLUE status, outlined below.

OPEN 90/10 (BLUE): Under this status, all students desiring to return to campus may do so.

Students/families wishing to remain home may do so as well. This level will follow this schedule: alternating ABCD and EFGH with periods rotating and class times similar to a “normal” preCOVID schedule. In an early July parent survey, approximately 90% of parents felt comfortable with their child(ren) returning to school daily while approximately 10% felt more comfortable starting the year remotely. Under this status, students beginning the school year remotely through livestream may not switch to in-person classes without pre-approval from the Assistant Head of School (primarily so that impact on classroom occupancy can be assessed and maintained within capacity). See BLUE on-campus required safety protocols below.

OPEN 50/50 (YELLOW): Under this status, an assigned 50% of the student body will attend school two days in a row (one day with the ABCD rotation and one day the EFGH rotation) while the other 50% attend school remotely through livestream of each class following the same schedule. Periods will continue to rotate and class times will be similar to a “normal” preCOVID schedule. On Days 3 and 4, the students who were in school days 1 and 2 will attend school remotely and vice-versa (two days on-campus and two days livestream remote). See YELLOW on-campus required safety protocols below.

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CLOSED (RED): Under severe conditions, the school building will be closed. This status could be the result of an executive order by the Governor. Learning during this status is 100% remote, following this schedule, alternating ABCD and EFGH days with periods rotating:

8:00am to 9:15am

Period 1

9:30am to 10:45am

Period 2

11:00am to 12:15pm

Period 3

12:45pm to 2:00pm

Period 4

OPEN 100 (GREEN): When conditions are approaching pre-COVID-19 levels, status GREEN will support a return to near-normal operations, during which all students are expected to return to in-person, on-campus classes.

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Status YELLOW and BLUE on-campus required safety protocols: ● Masks/face-coverings will be required on campus; mask breaks will be permitted in classrooms at the teacher’s discretion during instruction provided students remain seated in desks, facing in the same direction, that have been spaced 6-feet apart. ● All personnel will be required to wear masks/face-coverings when moving throughout the building and/or outside of their assigned workspace/office when 6-foot social distancing is not possible. ● One-way foot traffic flow will be required in some designated areas of the building. ● To limit the number of students gathering in common areas, bathrooms or at water fountains and to keep the traffic pattern flowing, passing times between classes will be shortened and bathrooms and water fountains will be “closed” during passing time. ● To monitor occupancy in areas with limited capacities (bathrooms, nurse, guidance, etc.) and to limit interpersonal contact with “objects”, all students will utilize contactless eHallPass instead of physical passes and sign-out sheets to leave the classroom or study hall. ● Visitors, volunteers, and guests will be prohibited from accessing the building except to visit the main office vestibule. ● Parent meetings will be conducted remotely by phone or video. ● Extensive and regular hand-washing and hand-sanitizing will be required. Hand-sanitizer will be placed throughout the campus. ● The school building will be open from 7:15 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Students will not be permitted in the building before or after these times. ● Students should proceed to their first period class immediately upon arrival to school.

Students desiring breakfast will be directed to the “breakfast cafe” where they will be provided the opportunity to eat a socially distanced breakfast. ● There will be an additional lunch period, now three vs two previously. Lunch will be served in the common areas with eating socially distanced. Naturally, masks may be removed to eat and must be put on when finished eating. ● Prior to the end of each class period, time will be dedicated to sanitizing desks, chairs, and door handles. ● Additional maintenance staff will be present during the school day to continuously sanitize common area touch points and assist with sanitizing between lunch periods.

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Resources and Operations ● Faculty professional development - our success in creating a safe environment that is academically successful will necessitate an emphasis on teacher training and support in August. Teachers will need training and time to plan lessons and arrange classroom time to ensure safety and rigor. Training will also include teaching through technology and adoption of a unified school platform for delivering instruction. Further, professional development will include training on nurturing social-emotional skills to manage trauma. ● Security - The school doors will open at 7:15 a.m. School personnel will be at the two morning entrances to visibly screen students upon arrival. Throughout the school day, visitors, volunteers, and guests will be prohibited from accessing the building except to visit the main office vestibule. After school, security personnel will be present from 2-5pm to patrol the school campus inside and out. ● Cleaning and sanitization - Maintenance staff will be expanded and trained on current and updated cleaning and disinfecting guidelines. Additional staff will be available during the school day to continuously sanitize common area touch points. ● Technology - Expanded wifi broadband service will occur that will better support live streaming each class for those students learning from home. ● Air quality - The indoor air quality in our building meets standards for schools. Fortunately, our new building is equipped with a state of the art BMS (building management system) and new HVAC systems. ● Transportation - It remains the intent of the school to continue to provide to/from school busing to the cities and towns we serve. However, at the time of this publication, busing policies and/or changes have not been communicated by the two busing companies. ● Staggered dismissal - Students will be dismissed at the end of the school day using a staggered schedule (to be published) that dismisses in groups such as those being picked up by parents, those riding the bus home, and those who drive themselves to school.

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Illness ● Families are required to keep their child(ren) home if they are exhibiting any signs and symptoms of illness, particularly those related to COVID-19. From the 7-17-20 DESE report: Below is a list of symptoms for which caregivers should monitor their children, and staff should monitor themselves: ❏ Fever (100.4° Fahrenheit or higher), chills, or shaking chills ❏ Cough (not due to other known cause, such as chronic cough) ❏ Difficulty breathing or shortness of breat h ❏ New loss of taste or smell ❏ Sore throat ❏ Headache when in combination with other symptoms ❏ Muscle aches or body aches ❏ Nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea ❏ Fatigue, when in combination with other symptoms ❏ Nasal congestion or runny nose (not due to other known causes, such as allergies)

when in combination with other symptoms ● In the event a student appears ill at school, they will be immediately referred to the nurse for a temperature check and health screening. ● Students with symptoms will remain in an isolation area until picked up by a parent/guardian from their provided contact list. Students must be picked up within 30 minutes. ● The following link from the MA DPH has the most current COVID-19 testing sites in Massachusetts: https://www.mass.gov/doc/ma-covid-19-testing-sites/download ● If a student is out of school for an extended period, live streamed classes will allow the student to keep on top of their studies. ● It is recommended that all students and personnel receive a flu shot as early as possible this year, preferably before the start of school.

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â—? An extensive report with protocols for responding to COVID-19 scenarios in school, on the bus, or in community settings was distributed by DESE on 7-17-20. The following quick reference/summary sheet outlines the protocols and actions for schools handling COVID-19 events:

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Contact

The school will continue to keep students and families informed if/when changes occur that necessitate a revision to our reopening plan. In the meantime, should you have any questions for our reopening committee to review, please direct inquiries to Dr. Harrington at pharrington@popefrancisprep.org Reopening Plan last updated: July 24, 2020

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