How to reopen in-person schools safely amid pandemic
The new school season is upon us, and many K-12 classrooms look similar to how they did in the spring: they’re either empty, with kids learning online, or they are uncomfortably full, but without a clear sense of howto hold live classes amid a pandemic. Conspicuously absent fromthe debate over how, or whether, to open schools successfully are examples of summer camps that did just that.
As Palm Beach schools prepare to reopen in-person learning on Sept. 21, it’s useful to look at lessons learned fromover the summer, as some camps spread the coronavirus while others proved very successful with no transmissions. As the co-owner and director of Blue Star Camps in North Carolina— whose winter office is in South Florida— the steps we took provide useful guidance for a safe, healthy and meaningful school year.
At Blue Star, we followed the emerging public health data to operate a safe and healthy summer program with over 350 campers and150 staff. Mywife and coowner, Lauren Popkin, and I followed all of the COVID-19 protocols recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Camp Association and our local health department. Choosing not to open camp proved not to be a viable option for us, like it is for many school districts now. But the message we received from public health professionals was clear: While opening would entail risks, we could substantially minimize those risks by staying laser-focused on the scientific protocols.
We developed our camp-based versions of social distancing, maskwearing, hand washing and cohorting as we maintained timely and transparent communication with our camp families leading up to the summer. Ranging from weekly written communication to Zoom Q&As, we provided up-to-date concrete information to our camp community.
To be sure, each school will have to adapt COVID-19 protocols to their particular setting. For example, at Blue Star we mandated cloth face coverings for all campers and staff at all times. The only exceptions were when campers or staff were eating or drinking aswell as swimming. At schools, all students and staff also would be mandated towear masks at all times, with the exception of eating or drinking. Compliance depends on the adults consistently modeling the safe behaviors, regularly reminding students to keep the masks covering both their mouths and noses, and making maskwearing feel “cool.” School spirit week would include wearing masks representing your favorite sports team. A class art project would center around designing your own tie-dye mask. Eventually, the masks will become normalized as part of a student’s school preparedness much like three-ring binders and homework planners.
Where our camp version of cohorting entailed limiting camper interactions to their own cabins or bunks, schools would limit student interactions to their own class grouping. Of course, this requires rethinking the flow of a school day. Instead of eating lunch in a cafeteria, students would eat either inside their classrooms or outside, socially distanced fromany other class. Additionally, school drop-off and pick-up would change so that staff could administer temperature checks to all incoming students with no parents or guardians able to enter the school building.
Of course, at Blue Starwe had important advantages that many schools, especially public ones like our children attend, will probably not be able to afford. Wewere able to purchase our own Quidel Sofia 2 testing machine, with over 1,000 test kits, and rapidly test campers prior to entering camp and again oneweek into camp. This rapid testing approach was one part of our larger COVID-19 testing regimen for campers and staff. We also limited the number of campers we accepted this summer by half and shortened the camp session from seven weeks to four. The testing protocols we implemented may be impossible formost schools. That said, counties can consider requiring students to come in to school only half theweek while the other half tunes in online, or decide on other hybrid models in order to minimize human contact.
By the end of the summer, not a single camper or staffer on site contracted the virus, and our medical team believes that our success hinged on the strict compliance of everyone at Blue Star to all of the protocols. The same success in mitigating risk can be realized in schools as long as all members of the school community— parents, teachers and students— do their part. Forging ahead requires a social compact. We all need to learn fromone another, evolve as new best practices emerge, and keep safety as the top priority—and together, we can open schools safely.