03/27/2020
March 27, 2020
Dear Parents,
As you know, we are in an unprecedented time and we appreciate your understanding as we work to understand the best way for us to continue forward as a school and to best care for our children and staff. As we stated in our letter on March 13, we will follow the guidance of our federal, state, and local partners; specifically, the State Departments of Health and Education and the Center for Disease Control as we make decisions. With this in mind and recognizing that the situation will change on a daily or even hourly basis, we want to update you with the following information. Links to the resources used in this process are at the end of this letter. We respectfully ask that you thoroughly read this entire letter.
• FPP will be open on Monday, March 30th at the usual time and will remain open so long as we are able to do so safely. This is based upon the CDC’s School Decision Tree and in recognition of the fact that as of today, March 26, 2020, the State Department of Health has reported nine cases of COVID-19 in Washington County. This would qualify as minimal spread in the community. FPP is following the CDC guidance as it is recommended by the State Departments of Health and Education for this level of community spread.
• To help ensure student safety, our building and classrooms will be cleaned and disinfected thoroughly on Friday, March 26th by staff. The school building and classrooms were cleaned thoroughly on March 20th by staff. Upon reopening the school on Monday, March 30th, staff will be intensifying cleaning and disinfection efforts based upon CDC recommendations.
• Parents must be aware of the symptoms of COVID-19. According to the CDC, this is a mild to severe respiratory illness with symptoms to include fever, cough, and/or shortness of breath.
As noted in the letter on March 13, children cannot attend FPP with a fever. A fever is defined as 100*F or high taken under the arm, 101*F taken orally, or 102*F taken rectally.
If a child or a household member has any symptoms or has possibly been exposed to someone with these symptoms or has been diagnosed with COVID-19 they CANNOT attend school for their own safety and that of others. Parents must also inform the FPP Director so that proper actions may be taken to help protect other children at the school. Staff will be held to this same standard and will not be permitted on FPP grounds if they meet the same criteria. This is essential to protect your child’s friends, families, and the community. They and this community depend on you to do your part and to keep your child at home if there are symptoms.
There can be no exceptions to this policy.
To help ensure that children are protected, staff will be temperature checked when they arrive for work and during the course of the day. Staff will also be taking the temperature of children when they arrive at school. If either staff or child has a temperature, they will be isolated and not be permitted to remain at school for the safety of others.
• New drop off and pickup procedures: FPP will be limiting access to the facilities as necessary. FPP teachers and staff will begin to assist with drop-off and pick-up. They will help to unload your children from the vehicle and ensure they get inside. It is our intention to limit the number of people coming in and out of the FPP building and thus the introduction of possible contaminants. To that end, staff and parents will not be permitted to travel from side to side of FPP with notable exceptions being meal personnel and administrative staff of FPP and the church. This will help to protect the children from one area to the next. Parents with children on both sides are asked to drive from one side of the building to the other to meet staff on their child’s classroom side.
• As of now, all classroom activities will be limited to only teachers, staff, and students. While we have always valued and appreciated our parents coming by to help in the learning process or to celebrate special events such as birthdays or class parties, it is necessary to limit these events at this time. If children have a birthday they wish to celebrate in the classroom, parents may still bring a special treat to the school at drop-off, but cannot visit the classroom. We hope that this policy will be short-lived so that we can all celebrate with our children together.
• FPP also asks parents to follow CDC guidance on how best to protect children from infection. This guidance includes proper and frequent hand washing with soap and water and disinfection using an alcohol based hand sanitizer, avoiding those who are sick and exhibit symptoms such as coughing and sneezing, and cleaning and disinfecting high touch surfaces daily in household common areas.
• CDC guidance also states that should a person with a confirmed case be present at the school, the school will close for the safety of others and then be disinfected. It is essential that parents and staff work together with FPP to help protect others by communicating with the school if there is a confirmed case in their household. We must work together in this process to keep each other safe.
• If your child is in the three or four year old classes and you decide that it is best for your family to stay home at this time or there is possible exposure to your family, teachers will still provide you with activities for them to continue to learn with their peers.
We fully respect the individual decisions that parents will make in regards to their child and recognize that there is no perfect solution at this time. This difficult decision has been made using the best guidance that we have from the CDC and the State Departments of Health and Education. We will follow these guidelines to ensure the health of safety of all at FPP. We recognize that this is a rapidly evolving situation and we will update you as quickly as possible of any changes to this plan via the use of text and the FPP page.
Thank you for your understanding and trust.
PP Board of Directors Christina Smith, FPP Director
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/schools-childcare/guidance-for-schools-h.pdf
https://msdh.ms.gov/msdhsite/_static/14,21866,420.html
