Health & Safety

All classrooms will be required to remain below maximum capacity limits to adequately provide for the physical distancing of students and teachers. The maximum capacity limit will be posted outside of all classrooms. Students will be required to maintain at least six (6) feet of physical distancing from others in the classroom whenever possible. Desks, activity stations, tables, and chairs will be spaced a minimum of six (6) feet apart and arranged to minimize face-to-face contact. For our youngest students (K-2) we recognize that physical distancing will be difficult for them; we will implement strategies to help them learn new protocols in a fun, safe, and engaging way. Even with the best intentions and goals, physical distancing for young students may prove impractical, at times. While we will do our very best to help students maintain the recommended distance from each other, there may be times in a stable group when this is not possible.

Students who are sick, displaying symptoms of COVID-19 (i.e. cough, fever, shortness of breath, etc.) or who have recently, within 14 days, had close contact with a person with COVID-19 will need to remain at home. Later in this handbook, we provide more detailed explanations of the scenarios in which a student will need to remain at home and the conditions that will need to be met to return to school, in-person.

In accordance with state and local agency guidelines, students must wear cloth face coverings while at school at all times, except during designated meal times. Students are encouraged to bring their own cloth face coverings made out of breathable cloth materials, cover the entire nose and mouth area, and be secured to the head with elastic ties or straps. Cloth face coverings should be washed daily per state and local guidance. Again, for our youngest students (K-2), wearing a face covering, at all times, may prove impractical; we will do our very best to help students meet this requirement, but there may be times when this is not possible. For students unable to wear a cloth face-covering due to special circumstances, a face shield is an acceptable substitute but must be worn with a cloth drape across the bottom and must be secured by being tucked into the shirt or tied around the back of the neck.

Redwood Day has established comprehensive cleaning, disinfection, and ventilation practices in an effort to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. Our updated policies apply to all areas of the School campus, both indoor and outdoor, including buildings, facilities, and grounds. Redwood Day will be in compliance with the most recent CDC guidelines for cleaning and disinfecting of public places, workplaces, businesses, schools, and homes. All disinfecting will be done with EPA-approved disinfectants against COVID-19 and following all directions to ensure safe and effective use. Policies require nightly disinfection of all classrooms and require classroom teachers to clean and disinfect frequently-touched surfaces and objects in the classroom between student use. We have hired additional janitorial staff, both during the day and in the evening, to assist with regular disinfecting and sanitation of high-touch surfaces.

Students will be required to wash their hands for the recommended 20 seconds with soap and water, or use hand sanitizer that contains at least 60% alcohol if soap and water are not available when arriving and prior to leaving school, before and after meals, after outside play, before and after using the restroom, after having close contact with others, and after using shared surfaces and tools. Hand sanitizer will be provided in all classrooms that do not have sinks.

Each stable group of students will be assigned a specific restroom; if windows exist in these restrooms, they will remain open for ventilation. Students will be directed to use the restroom assigned to their stable group. Custodial staff will conduct regular cleaning and disinfecting of restrooms throughout the day. Gendered restrooms will no longer exist for the foreseeable future and students will only be permitted to use the restroom one student at a time.

Markers that designate intervals of six (6) feet will be placed in classrooms , and at entrances, to designate spaces where students should be when in line to maintain physical distancing. The School will also designate foot traffic patterns, such as one-way hallways, to limit the frequency of students passing each other or coming within six (6) feet of each other, as they move throughout campus.

Parents/Guardians shall screen students daily by checking and recording their temperature and observing for other symptoms associated with COVID-19. The health of the student will be attested each day through the use of an online portal and must be completed daily before drop-off by 8:00 a.m. The specific details of the health screening process will be provided in early August. As parents/guardians drop students off, a staff member will verify that the health form has been filled out. If the parent/guardian has not attested to their child’s health, the student will not be permitted on campus until this verification step is complete.

Before the beginning of school, you will receive information about an online portal which you will use to verify your child’s health on a daily basis. This online portal will be connected to the School’s already existing student information system. You will be asked to verify that you or your child have not been exposed to COVID-19 (to the best of your knowledge) and that your child nor anyone in your household is not experiencing any symptoms of COVID-19. Redwood Day will need you to verify this information on a daily basis; students arriving at Redwood Day for drop-off without proper verification will not be permitted into their stable group home base location until a parent/guardian completes the verification process.

Stable group sizes were determined by the enrollment for each grade level and the available classroom space to accommodate the number of students. The usable square footage of each classroom space was then divided by 50 square feet (as recommended by health experts) to determine how many individuals can safely fit in the classroom location while implementing proper physical distancing protocols. To the best of our ability, we aimed to keep all grade-level stable groups in the Lower School in the same general location on campus. Middle School stable groups are assigned to classroom locations by advisory for at least the first semester. Middle School students will not be traveling from classroom to classroom in this model; Middle School Core and Specialist Teachers will travel to students in their home base cohort location.

Recess and lunch periods will be staggered in the Lower School to promote physical distancing, and lunches will take place in individual classrooms or at outdoor tables. Outdoor physical education or play activities will be staggered for different student groups to promote physical distancing. Stable groups will be assigned to a designated area of the campus during outdoor physical education or play activities to promote physical distancing and will not be permitted to leave their designated area.

Under the CDC recommendation to increase the use of outdoor air as much as possible, Redwood Day will use natural ventilation whenever possible. Doors and windows will be open to increase outdoor air dilution of indoor air, weather permitting. When conditions do not allow the use of natural ventilation, our existing HVAC systems consist of either radiant heating or single-room systems, both of which do not pose a danger of viruses moving from one classroom to another.

The School has adopted a policy to promote a safe and healthy school and workplace by establishing cleaning, disinfection, and ventilation practices in an effort to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. This policy applies to all areas of the School campus both indoor and outdoor, including buildings, facilities, and grounds. The policy will be in compliance with the most recent CDC guidelines for the cleaning & disinfecting of public places, workplaces, businesses, schools, and homes. All disinfecting will be done with EPA-approved disinfectants against COVID-19 and following all directions to ensure safe and effective use. The policy requires nightly disinfection of all classrooms and requires classroom teachers to clean and disinfect frequently-touched surfaces and objects in the classroom between student use, including, but not limited to, desks and tables, doorknobs, light switches, and any other surface or object in the classroom touched or used by students.

We encourage people to limit their exposure as much as possible. For this reason, we discourage carpooling. However, we recognize that carpooling may be necessary for some families. If that is the case, we require that you maintain a carpool group that is consistent with the students assigned to your child’s stable group and that you limit the number of students in the carpool. If you have multiple children, in different grade levels at Redwood Day, we request that you please refrain from carpooling with other families.