July 21

FSP Reopening Guidelines 2020-2021

Friends School of Portland is committed to implementing best practices in school to mitigate the spread of Covid-19 in our community and to contribute to the continued public health goal of “flattening the curve.”

There are many aspects of FSP that make this task easier than it is in much of the country: Maine’s Covid rate is relatively low; we do not have bus and lunch systems to contend with; we have small class sizes and plenty of room indoors; we have access to wonderful outside spaces; our faculty and parents are thoughtful and flexible. Nevertheless, this will not be easy, and we will need to work together to pull it off.

As more is known about measures that can help mitigate spread, we will adjust our approaches accordingly. We will be adopting the following guidelines:

The school will:

• Watch the rate of spread in Cumberland County and in Maine closely and use those data and the recommendations of the CDC and healthcare professionals, to assess the safety of in-person learning.

• Use the “cohort” model to limit contacts. Indoor contact will be distanced and/ or masked, and includes only the student’s classroom cohort, classroom teacher(s), and 1 specials teacher per trimester. Students from different classrooms may interact outdoors with either 6 foot of distancing or masks.

• Reorganize the schedule to minimize contacts between specials teachers and different cohorts of students and to keep recesses small.

• Require social distancing and masking when that appropriate distancing is not possible.

• Restrict the use of (formerly) common inside spaces, including bathrooms and hallways, to specific cohorts and limit the number of people in a space at any time.

• Stagger drop-off and dismissal.

• Require temperature checks and health screenings each morning.

• Use outside spaces as much as possible.

• Keep our air transfer system in the building working well to exchange air several times/ hour; keep windows open.

• Require students and staff to stay home if they are experiencing Covid-like symptoms.

• Clean and disinfect the building and high-touch surfaces frequently.

Because keeping our community safe will require a partnership, we will ask families to do the following (these are best practices recommended by the CDC):

• Practice social distancing and masking with people outside of the household

• Avoid high-risk activities; indoor dining, movie theaters, etc.

• Limit play-dates those that can be held outside with social distancing and masking

• Avoid unnecessary travel

• Answer health screening questions accurately

• Notify the school right away if anyone in the family has tested positive for Covid-19 or when they have come into contact with anyone who has tested positive, or if anyone in the family is experiencing symptoms of Covid-19 (this will be asked in a daily health screening)

Reopening Specifics

Classroom Cohorts (10-15 students per)

• Students will remain in their classrooms, in their assigned specials room, or in outdoor learning spaces throughout the day.

• Each classroom will have an assigned bathroom to use.

• Students in one classroom may interact with students in another classroom outside only, and they must be distanced and/or masked.

Drop off

Parents will accompany their child/children to entrance designated for each level. Both adults and students will be masked. Students waiting to enter will remain 6 ft apart and will be health-screened. Teachers will meet students at their classroom doors, where they will ask students to wash hands. Then students will put away belongings and begin the day.

Drop off times will be staggered between 8:00-8:30 depending on grade level. It is essential to the procedure that students arrive on time.

Exact drop off times and locations will be determined and communicated at a later date.

Dismissal

Dismissal times and locations will, likewise, be staggered between 2:45 and 3:00, depending on grade level. This information will go out closer to the start of school.

**** FRIDAY DISMISSAL WILL BE 1:00 for students. This will give teachers some additional time to plan.

Distancing and Masking

Inside:

Desks, meeting spaces, and work spaces will be placed at a distance (3’-6’ is current best practice).

Teachers and students will be masked when in the building unless eating or napping.

Outside

Students do not need to be masked outside if they are able to keep a 6 ft distance in all directions between themselves and others. If they are closer than 6 feet, they should be masked. Students will be required to have a mask on hand at all times, whether inside or outside of the building.

Hallways

Students will remain on the hallways in their areas of the building (5-8 ; 1-4; Early Childhood) unless walking to a specials class.

Only 3 students at a time from a class should be in the hallway at any time (including at cubbies).

Classes should use only their assigned entrance/exit.

Students entering another “wing” for a specials class must be masked. They must wash hands/hand sanitize before entering that wing. Classroom teachers must walk classes to specials and pick them up to ensure distancing in the hallways.

Bus/Field Trips

Only 7 students can ride our small bus at one time, therefore we are looking at outdoor and walking-only excursions from campus.

We will continue to look for a second bus.

Lunch/Snack/Food

Students and staff must wash hands before and after.

Students must eat at a distance of 6’ from one another. Students must be seated in an individual desk the entire time. Desks should be wiped down before and after eating.

Students must eat only their own food.

Belongings

PS and K will have clear plastic boxes for storing rest spot sheets/blankets and wipeable rest mats

Only 3 students per class should be in the hallway at a time; teachers should designate distanced “getting dressed” areas IN the classroom; students will go to cubbies to retrieve what they need and get dressed inside of the classroom.

All belongings in cubbies need to be taken home at the end of each week to allow for proper cleaning.

If a student is ill at school

The teacher will call the office.

An administrator, masked and gloved, will come to the classroom to bring the child to the first aid room (conference room).

The administrator will call parents, and the child will be picked up. Parents will consult with the child’s PMD.

Assembly and Gatherings

Assemblies while we are in school will be asynchronous. Classes will be given a task or challenge to complete at some point on Friday. Meeting for worship will be held by classroom, or outside with two classrooms distanced and/or masked. Tuesday morning all-school meetings will be “on hold” until 2021-2022.

Buddies

Buddies (older students paired with younger ones) can meet weekly outside, distanced or masked, weather permitting. They may want to plan to move to a pen-pal like model when the weather makes outside meetings difficult.

Buddy Groupings:

Aliza’s 5-6 class and Sally’s 1-2 class

Allie’s 5-6 class and Katie’s 1-2 class

7-8 and preschool

Lindsay’ 3-4 class and preschool

Nicole’s 3-4 class and Kindergarten

Body Mind Spirit

The 5-6 and 7-8 advisors (Aliza, Allie, Pete) will teach BMS in advisory groups, using the Face to Face advisory curriculum, the Black Lives Matter curriculum, and the Our Whole Lives curriculum.

Chorus

Because of the high-risk nature of indoor singing, we will not offer middle school chorus this year. We will look for different ways to give students performance opportunities.

Middle School Electives/ Mini-Courses

We were hoping to introduce this new opportunity in 2020, but we will need to wait until 2021-2022 when classes can intermix again.

Aftercare and Afterschool Activities

Aftercare for families will not be offered for the foreseeable future.

Specials for 2020-2021

Specials teachers (P.E., art, music, and Spanish) will see each class intensively for one trimester at a time to limit interaction between different cohorts.

High-touch areas in specials rooms will be disinfected between classes.

7-8 will take Spanish online with Dareth, FSP’s Spanish teacher, during the trimesters they are not meeting with her in person.

Classroom teachers should create ways to integrate some movement (class hikes, or jogs, distanced tag games, yoga, etc) during the trimesters when their students are not in PE.