Lake Arrowhead Christian School
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Lake Arrowhead Christian School
COVID-19 Campus Safety Plan for 2020-2021
Revised 18 August 2020
 
 
INTRODUCTION

The goal of our reopening plan is to provide re-entry that fosters the overall health of children, staff, and the community that we serve. The plan is based on evidence that is currently available and will be monitored as new information or situations arise. We trust that this plan will provide a framework for safety when we are able to legally be on campus.
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In formulating this plan, we take into consideration currently available data, information, and guidelines from multiple sources: American Academy of Pediatrics, Center for Disease Control, California Department of Education,  California Department of Public Health, San Bernardino County Department of Health, Community Care Licensing guidelines and rules, if applicable, and various other experts and authors who have offered and are offering their insights into the impact of COVID-19 on the health and well-being of children and youth. 
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Return to school has always been associated with increases in cases of community-associated seasonal respiratory viral infections. As a result, it is anticipated that there will likely be an increase in cases of COVID-19 upon the resumption of school; therefore, the appropriate measures should be put in place to mitigate the effects of such an increase. This includes the need for readily available testing and contact tracing support and quarantining, which is critical to avoid/control outbreaks. Consistency is essential for our students and it will be important to ensure that once children return to school, our schools stay open to the extent possible by law. Furthermore, children rely on structure and schedule for stability, which supports the need for a daily school model.
 
OUR TWELVE-POINT RE-OPENING PLAN

1. CLEANING and DISINFECTION
A regular cleaning schedule will be established and implemented throughout the school day with emphasis on high touch surfaces. Maximum efforts will be made to reduce the need to touch objects and doors (i.e. no-touch waste containers, propped open doors), and teachers and staff will regularly reinforce no sharing of food, water bottles, and cutlery. To the greatest extent possible, classroom materials and equipment will be made of materials that can be cleaned and disinfected, and each child’s belongings will be separated from the belongings of others.

Staff will clean and disinfect frequently-touched surfaces at least daily and, as practicable, these surfaces will be cleaned and disinfected frequently throughout the day by trained custodial staff.  
Frequently touched surfaces in the school include, but are not limited to the following:
  • Door handles 
  • Light switches 
  • Sink handles 
  • Bathroom surfaces 
  • Tables 
  • Student desks 
  • Chairs  
  • Stairway hand rails
  • Drinking fountains
 
Sharing of objects and equipment, such as toys, games, school and art supplies, and playground equipment will, to the extent possible, not be permitted. When shared use is allowed, the objects or equipment will be cleaned between uses.
Our disinfecting products have been approved for use against COVID by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and our staff follows product instructions.
 
2. COHORTING
Staff and student groupings will remain as static as possible, allowing students to interact with the same group of students and a minimal number of staff members throughout the day, including during breaks, recess, lunch, and outdoor activities. LACS, therefore, will have a total of seven (7) cohorts, one for each grade level (K through 6). By limiting the mixing of students and staff, the number of potential exposures to COVID-19 will be reduced for individuals on campus.  

To ensure the limited mixing of students, school-wide gatherings such as assemblies, chapel, and choir will not take place. Furthermore, all field trips will be virtual, and the presence of non-essential visitors on campus will be as limited as possible.
 
3. ENTRANCE, EXIT, and MOVEMENT WITHIN the SCHOOL 
Student drop-off: Students will be staggered in their drop off and arrival in the classroom by monitoring the flow of traffic in the school’s carpool lane. Students will be allowed to exit the vehicle only if that vehicle is the first in line. Students will then be directed to the classroom in order to prevent congregating in the hallways or other common areas.
 
Movement on campus during the school day: Morning breaks and lunches will be staggered, ensuring each student cohort will remain separate from the others. One-way traffic patterns will be marked in hallways and stairwells to limit the likelihood of cohorts or individuals coming in contact with each other during movement from place to place.
 
School dismissal: Dismissal times for each cohort will be staggered by at least five minutes. Students will remain in their cohorts until their source of transportation arrives at the front of the carpool lane. This will prevent large, mixed gatherings of students in the afternoon.
 
Parents and other visitors will not be permitted to interact with the student cohorts. Parents will be directed to remain in the school office, where a staff member will arrange for the parent’s student to be sent. In-person contact between parents and staff will take place after school hours, when the staff member’s obligation to the student cohort has concluded. Whenever possible, meetings between parents and teachers should be done by phone or video conferencing.
 
4. FACE COVERINGS and OTHER ESSENTIAL PROTECTIVE GEAR
Face coverings are an important part of returning to campus as safely as possible. A face covering should be a cloth mask. Students in grades K, 1 and 2 are strongly encouraged to wear a face covering. All faculty without exception and all students in grade 3 and above will wear a face covering when school resumes on campus.  We ask that parents provide a mask for their students each day. The school will provide masks if a student does not have one. Students refusing to wear a face covering will not be allowed to remain at school.
 
Face coverings should be removed for meals, snacks, nap time, or outdoor recreation, or when it needs to be replaced. 
 
A student will be exempt from wearing a face covering for medical reasons if the student’s guardian provides a note from a medical doctor.
 
5. HEALTH SCREENING for STUDENTS and STAFF
In order to prevent the spread of infection, students, teachers and other employees who have signs/symptoms of COVID (according to CDC, CDPH, and SBCDPH) must stay home. 
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Please use this checklist for daily screening before arriving at school each day:
  • Cough
  • Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing
  • Fever of 100.4°F or higher or a sense of having a fever
  • Sore throat
  • Chills
  • New loss of taste or smell
  • Muscle or body aches
  • Nausea/vomiting/diarrhea
  • Congestion/runny nose not related to seasonal allergies
  • Unusual fatigue
  • Does anyone in your household have any of the above symptoms?
  • Has your student been in close contact with anyone with suspected or confirmed COVID-19?
  • Has your student taken any medication to reduce a fever before coming to school?
 
The student or staff member must be excluded from being campus if the answer to any of the above questions is yes. If the answer to all the above questions is no, then the student or staff member may come to school.

A school staff member will screen every student, visitor, and vendor on campus with a temperature check. Students with a temperature over 99 degrees will be sent to the health office for evaluation, and students with a temperature over 100.4 will be immediately placed in a designated quarantine space until they can be picked up by a parent or other authorized adult. Visitors and vendors with a temperature of 100.4 or above will leave the campus.

Virtual learning or other forms of structured learning will be implemented on an as-needed basis for children who are required to stay home because they are sick or in isolation due to COVID infection or exposure. LACS will identify and implement available options for students who have limited internet availability or other barriers to online learning.

6. HEALTHY HYGIENE PRACTICES
Frequent and proper hand hygiene (soap and water or hand sanitizer) is critical in limiting the transmission of COVID-19; it is one of the most effective strategies to prevent the spread of most respiratory viruses, particularly during the pre-symptomatic phase of illness.

Students will be taught how to clean their hands properly (with age appropriate material) and to avoid touching their face, eyes, nose, and mouth as much as possible. This should be done in a non-judgmental and positive manner. Students should be reminded to sneeze or cough into their elbow/sleeve.

Age-appropriate signage about hand-washing will be placed at key points on the campus to remind students about the importance of this practice. Routine hand hygiene, above and beyond what is usually recommended (before eating food, after using the washroom, etc.) will be encouraged. Each elementary school classroom currently has two sinks and one hand-sanitizer station.

Hand sanitizer (60-90% USP grade alcohol, not technical grade alcohol) will be available at the entry point for each classroom. Adequate resources and a replenishment process will be implemented to ensure supplies are available to perform hand hygiene frequently. LACS will install additional hand-sanitation stations at strategic locations around the campus, such as hallways and common areas.

Hand hygiene will be required upon entering the classroom in the morning, prior to and after morning recess, prior to and after lunch, and after any outdoor/playground activities.
 
7. IDENTIFICATION and TRACING of CONTACTS
According to CDC, close contact is defined as being within six (6) feet of an infected person for at least fifteen (15) minutes starting from two (2) days before the onset of the illness (or, for asymptomatic individuals, two days prior to specimen collection) until the time the infected individual is isolated. Close contact will be determined by the school administration. Parents of children who have been in contact with an infected person will be notified. The identity of the infected person will not be revealed.
 
To support contact tracing, LACS will have a designated staff person—Principal Jim Hein—who is responsible for (1) maintaining a list of exposed students and staff, (2) submitting that list to the San Bernardino County Department of Public Health, and (3) notifying all exposed persons. Principal Hein will also be designated school employee for San Bernadino County Department of Public Health to contact about COVID-19. Assistant Principal Alicia Guth will the designated back-up person if Principal Hein is unable to fulfill his role in this situation.
 
8. PHYSICAL DISTANCING
The objective of physical distancing is to reduce the likelihood of contact that may lead to transmission and has been a widely used strategy during the pandemic. 
 
When students are in the classroom, to the extent possible, classroom furniture will be arranged to leave six 6 feet between students whenever possible. All student desk will face in one direction. The LACS campus has several large multi-purpose rooms/areas that make safe physical distancing more achievable and that can be utilized for classroom instruction: the outdoor amphitheater, the gymnasium, the multi-purpose room in the Cedar building, and the Agape room in the main building.
 
Lunch breaks will continue to be staggered outside as usual, and social distancing will be facilitated via designated areas for small groups of students. School lunches will be individually plated or packaged. During outdoor activities, such as recess and physical education, physical distancing will be achieved via small groupings and staggered schedules. 
 
9. STAFF TRAINING and FAMILY EDUCATION
Staff training. All staff will be trained in the following areas:
  • Enhanced sanitation practices 
  • Physical distancing guidelines and their importance 
  • Proper use, removal, and washing of face coverings
  • COVID-19 screening practices
  • Identification of symptoms specific to COVID-19 and when to seek medical attention
  • Preventing the spread of COVID if you are sick, including the importance of not coming to work if staff members have symptoms, or if they or someone they live with has been diagnosed with COVID. 
  • The employer’s plan and procedures to follow when children or adults become sick at school
  • The employer’s plan and procedures to protect workers from COVID illness
  • All other school policies related to COVID-19
 
This training, which will be done in-person at a school staff meeting before school resumes, is mandatory. Employees will be asked to sign documentation that verifies they have received training in the above areas and agree to comply by all COVID-19 safety policies and procedures.
 
Family education. The school’s safety plan will be distributed to the parents by email. Additionally, the plan will be placed on the school website (lakearrowheadchristianschool.com) and will be available in hard copy format in the school office. The posted plan will include links to valuable COVID-19 resources (CDC, CDPH, SBCDPH). Regular updates about implementation of the plan or changes to the plan will be provided by the school principal via email and school website.
 
10. TESTING of STUDENTS and STAFF
Staff. Being an asymptomatic carrier of COVID-19 is a real possibility; therefore, all staff members will be tested periodically. Every two weeks 25% of the staff will be tested, ensuring that in a span of two months, 100% of the school staff will be tested. The locations of county testing sites and instructions for making testing arrangements will be provided to all staff members prior to the first day of on-campus learning.
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Any staff member exhibiting symptoms of COVID-19 is required to be tested as soon as possible; furthermore, that staff member will be asked to stay at home and self-isolate for a period of fourteen (14) days. Additionally, all staff who have been in close contact with an individual who has tested positive for COVID-19 must remain at home and self-isolate for fourteen (14) days.
 
Students. The school will request that any student with COVID-19 symptoms or who has been exposed to someone with COVID-19 be tested. Additionally, the student in question will be asked to stay at home and self-isolate for a period of fourteen (14) days. The school will provide information regarding testing sites to the student’s parent/guardian.
 
11. TRIGGERS for SWITCHING to DISTANCE LEARNING
The following criteria will be used by the school administration to determine when to physically close the school campus and prohibit in-person instruction:
  • The number of COVID-19 cases among the staff/student population
  • The percentage of students and staff that are positive for COVID-19
  • A consultation with the local health officer
 
School closure will be appropriate if a case of COVID-19 is present in two or more cohorts or if 5% of the student/staff population are diagnosed with COVID-19 within a fourteen-day period. The school will also close to on-campus learning if the local health officer determines that such action is warranted from a health investigation or other local epidemiological information.
 
The duration of a school closure will be at least fourteen (14) days, during which the campus will be cleaned and disinfected. A public health investigation and a consultation with the local health department may also occur during that time.
 
12. COMMUNICATION PLANS
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The school will provide clear, age-appropriate, and bias-free communication to students, parents, and staff members. The school principal is responsible for responding to COVID concerns and may be reached at jim.hein@lacseagles.com. An important component of this plan is communicating with students, staff, and parents about COVID-19 cases and exposures at the school. Such communication will be done in accordance with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).

  • All school families will be notified by email about COVID-19 cases or exposures among the student or staff population. Additionally, a notification will be posted in the school office to inform all visitors.
  • This notification will include information that is in a non-personally identifiable form. The identity of the infected/exposed student cannot be revealed without written consent from the student’s parent/legal guardian.
  • As previously stated, any individual who is determined to have been in close contact with a COVID case will be notified by Principal Hein directly with a phone conversation.
 
 
REFERENCES
American Academy of Pediatrics (COVID-19 Planning Considerations: Guidance for School Re-entry)
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Considerations for Schools)
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Contact Tracing)
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Preparing K-12 Administrators for a Safe Return to School in Fall 2020)
COVID-19 and Reopening In-Person Learning Framework for K-12 Schools in California, 2020-2021 School Year
COVID-19 Industry Guidance: Schools and School-based Programs
Stronger Together: A Guidebook for the Safe Reopening of California’s Public Schools
Student Privacy Policy Office (FERPA & Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) FAQs, March 2020
Contact Us
Calvary Chapel Conference Center Twin Peaks
Calvary Chapel

  • Home
  • About LACS
    • Vision, Mission, and Statement of Faith
    • History & Progress
    • Contact Us
  • Academics
    • School-wide Learning Goals
    • School Supplies (Grades K - 6)
    • School Supplies (Grades 7 - 12)
    • Current School Schedules
    • SBCDPH Waiver Letter
    • University & College Acceptance
  • Admissions
  • Athletics
    • Sports Calendar
    • CIF-SS Update
  • Staff Directory
  • Calendar
  • COVID-19 Safety Plan