Hello all,
I've never posted before so not sure if I'm posting or only sending an e-mail to James.....
We have been closed since mid-March but started out our summer camp program with 3 small "playgroups" - we have 3 groups of 8 children and 2 staff. They arrive at 9 and leave at noon. This week we expanded to 1 more group. Arrival is done curbside with a teacher from each group on deck to receive only their children. We have had parents sign a waiver (although waiver signed on behave of a minor offers minimal protection in FL). Staff has also signed the waiver. Parents are given a pack of screening forms which they turn in to us each morning. On this form they must initial that the child, nor any household members have experienced symptoms (listed separately); that the child has not received any fever reducing medication; no one in the household has knowingly been in contact with anyone with symptoms or positive for COVID-19 and that no one has arrived from anywhere outside of the US in that past 14 days (I'm happy to share this form if it would be helpful to anyone). The daily temps are recorded on this form - temp is taken 2/day. Our groups are static - no changes in campers or teachers throughout the week. Our teachers they could not work for a week of summer camp unless they can commit to all 5 days - not sure how we will do this during the school year. We originally thought we would keep siblings together but that turned out to be difficult in terms of age differences in the groups. Given that the whole camp would have to shut down if there was a case, we decided splitting siblings was not a critical piece of the plan. Increased hand washing is of course part of the plan but I wish we had more sinks (our classrooms do not have them - everyone has to use the bathrooms which get disinfected between groups).
We spend as much time as possible outside - disinfecting the playgrounds between groups with a disinfection dilution of bleach (1/2 cup to 1 gallon of water).
For inside, I examined the EPA N List for "Food Contact. No Rinse"; low contact time; the "emerging pathogen claim" and a toxicity category of IV (least toxic). The one we chose was Bioesque (4 min. contact time - among the lowest).
Our teachers wear masks all day but we have not asked the children to given that young children seem to touch their faces so much if the have a mask on.
The individual supply bins have been difficult to manage as well so we have not yet found the best way to handle that piece of the puzzle for our children.
We have also decided we will serve food (each group will eat in the classroom) because with so many young children, staff would have to be handling all of the lunch boxes and containers leading to potential cross contamination.
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Anne Rothe
Director
Key Biscayne Presbyterian School
Key Biscayne FL
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Original Message:
Sent: 06-02-2020 09:56 PM
From: James Mitchell
Subject: What does it really look like in a pandemic adjusted classroom?
To those of you who have been open over the last couple of months and have at least 6-8 kids in a room....
- What has that looked like in actual practice to try and keep kids 6 feet apart?
- What does it look like to keep kids from sharing materials?
- What has focusing so much attention on hygiene and cleaning done to your ability to observe and document?
- What has focusing energy on rearranging class spaces and morning symptom & temperature checks done to your ability to be creative?
- What are you doing that is working and keeping you in step with CDC guidelines?
- What is impossible and ridiculous to even attempt?
Thanks for any time you can give to these questions. I'm sure you're busy as can be and know how valuable your time is.
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James Mitchell
Teacher
Silver Spring Nursery School
Takoma Park MD
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