NEW PROCEDURES
The Office of Early Childhood / Office of Care and Family Services(OEC or OCFS) has required us to implement numerous new procedures to achieve a reasonable amount of social distancing in school. Recognizing that infants and toddlers are not adept at social distancing, our priority is to minimize the number of people your child will be exposed to each day. We will accomplish that through the following procedures:
Drop-off: Families will arrive and park as they always have. We will have stripes on the sidewalk (six feet apart – like the supermarket) where families will wait for their child to be admitted to the building. In Danbury, each side of the bridge is defined by direction. Adults must wear a mask/face covering when they are on the line and when they are speaking to school staff. Before children are admitted to the building, the will use hand sanitizer and we will check their temperature using a touchless thermometer. If your child’s temperature is over 100 degrees, we will test it again using a second thermometer. If the second thermometer displays the same temperature as the first thermometer, your child will not be allowed to enter the building. If your child’s temperature is less than 100 degrees, your child will be escorted into the building by one of the teachers.
Teachers: Teachers are required to wear a face-covering or a face shield. Some of the teachers will also be wearing a blue smock or other protective clothing to cover their outside clothes. These will be washed and disinfected at school daily.
Sanitizer: All children will be supervised using hand sanitizer before they enter the foyer. They will wash off the residue when they get to the classroom. If hand sanitizer is not applicable, children will engage in supervised hand-washing.
Class Size: All group/class sizes will be 14 children or less.
Hallways: Only one group/class will be allowed to use a hallway at any given time.
Classrooms: Children will be encouraged to work in different areas of the classroom to help with social distancing. During circle time, lunchtime, and nap time, children will be spread throughout the room. Children will spend the whole day in their designated room and their designated outdoor play area. They will not visit any common space; except in Danbury, they may visit the gym in small groups when it is raining.
Playground: Each Primary group will be assigned exclusive use of one playground each day. That playground will not be used by other groups that same day.
Lunch: Parents must send children with their lunch every day in a disposable bag. Please do not send lunches that need to be microwaved as the staff has been instructed not to touch or heat up food. Lunch will be stored in the refrigerator that is in the classroom. We will not have catered food during the month of June, or possibly longer. All garbage from lunch will be discarded. Lunch boxes and washable food containers will also be discarded. Please do not send them to school until further notice.
Toileting: Primary students will be toileted in the bathroom that is in their classroom. After each child is finished using the bathroom, the teachers will disinfect all surfaces touched by the child.
Mid-Day Temperature check: Children will have their temperature checked before napping. Children with a temperature that is over 100 degrees will be sent home. Children that are sent home must have a doctor’s note to return. If your child has a fever in the morning, please call your doctor to find out why. Do not give them Tylenol and send them to school.
Napping: Children will nap on cots that are at least 6 feet apart.
Pick-up: We are currently testing software that will tell us when you have entered a “geofence” on your way to drop-off/pick-up your child. We probably won’t have that operational until July. In the meantime, please call us when you are 10 minutes away from school, and we will get your child ready for you to pick-up outside the front door.
Visiting: In Danbury, the keypad entry system has been disabled. Someone from the office will ensure that every adult is wearing a face covering and has a temperature of less than 100 degrees before they are allowed to enter the building.
Cleaning & Disinfecting: Over the last two months we have researched numerous CDC approved cleaning and disinfecting products. We have also spoken to several experts and learned that hydrogen peroxide is a better disinfectant than bleach. Consequently, we will be cleaning with our CDC eco-friendly approved disinfecting cleaner and then disinfecting again with hydrogen peroxide spray.
