Boone plans full reopening
With coronavirus not going away anytime soon, school districts across Pennsylvania are working to find ways to provide students with a safe, quality education.
In order to reopen schools that have been shuttered since March, districts are required to craft COVID-19 health and safety plans. Plans must be approved by school boards and the state Department of Education before classes can resume for the 2020-21 school year.
The Daniel Boone School District approved its plan July 27. It includes procedures for how the district will operate in each of the state’s three reopening phases: green, yellow and red. All of Pennsylvania is in the green phase.
Here’s what Daniel Boone’s plan looks like for the green phase:
First day of classes
• Aug. 27
Type of reopening
• Total reopening for all students and staff.
• Families will have a district-run virtual option if they choose not to send students back to schools for in-person instruction.
Cleaning, disinfecting and ventilation plan
• Disinfectant fog machines will be used daily in each classroom and each bus.
• Hand sanitizers will be provided at strategic locations throughout each building.
• HVAC systems have been modernized to meet air quality needs, and outdoor air circulation will be increased by opening doors and windows when possible.
• Water fountains will be shut off. Students should bring their own water, and fill-up stations will be available.
• Hand sanitizers and disinfectant wipes or spray bottles and towels will be provided to each classroom. They will be used by staff to clean surfaces like desks.
• At least one person in each building will be assigned each day to clean high-touch surfaces multiple times per day. These surfaces include but are not limited to door handles and sink handles.
• Kelvic cleaner will be used for bathroom surfaces, using steam and ionized water to clean and sanitize bathrooms at the close of each day. Bathrooms will be wiped down for sanitization at least three times a day.
• Where possible, buildings will eliminate hightouch surfaces by doing things like removing cabinet doors so students and staff can easily access supplies without touching a door or handle.
• Routine cleaning practices for indoor areas that have not been used for seven or more days or outdoor equipment will continue.
• Standard protocols will be used to clean surfaces that are not high touch, such as bookcases, cabinets, wall boards or drapes, as well as floors.
• In the event of a positive COVID-19 case in a building, the classroom area and the areas where the student or staff went will be left empty for 24 hours. It will then be thoroughly sanitized by contracted staff provided with enhanced personal protective equipment.
Social distancing and other protocols plan
• Students must wear masks unless they are eating or able to maintain six feet of separation from others.
• Face coverings are to be worn by all non-students while on school property. This includes parents and guardians during student drop-off and pickup.
• Building schedules will be developed to lessen student transitions throughout the day.
• Desks should be facing the same direction and provide for six feet social distancing, when feasible. When this is not feasible the desks should be spread apart as far as possible.
• When desks or workstations cannot be moved, have the students spaced apart and sitting only on one side of tables.
• Plastic desk shields will be provided to teachers, aides and students.
• One mask will be given to all students and staff.
• A face shield will be given to all staff as an additional measure.
• Unnecessary furniture will be removed from rooms.
• Outdoor spaces, cafeterias, auditoriums and largegroup instruction areas will be used to the extent possible to promote social distancing. • All special education teachers and staff will be provided transparent masks and face shields.
• A teacher-only area will be designated in each classroom.
• Stairwells will be designated as one-direction where possible. A one-way traffic pattern will be created in hallways wherever possible. Physical guides such as tape on floors will be used to help create oneway routes.
• Lockers will be assigned by cohort or will be eliminated altogether.
• Class times will be staggered to limit the number of students in the hallways.
• Outside areas will be used when possible for eating. Buildings will also use additional spaces such as large-group instruction areas, gyms, classrooms and hallways for lunches.
• If students are eating in the cafeteria, they must be six feet apart and wear their face coverings walking to and from the cafeteria, as well as when they are getting their food.
• Students should sit in a staggered fashion to avoid across-the-table seating.
• Students will eat in cohorts and be served individually plated meals.
• Desk shields should be used when feasible.
• Food and snacks cannot be shared.
• Food utensils cannot be shared.
• Students will not use keypads for entering their lunch number for purchase of meals.
• Students will be separated within common areas.
• Physical distancing will be enforced on playgrounds, and students and staff will need to wash their hands before and after being on the playground.
• No use of playground equipment or swings during recess, and no use of shared playground toys. No games of catch.
• Gatherings, events and extracurricular events shall be limited to those that can maintain good physical distancing.
• Field trips are canceled until further notice.
• To the greatest extent feasible, virtual events should be used. If an event can’t be virtual, six-foot distancing must be maintained. Outdoor events are limited to 250 people.
• Students will not be permitted to change for physical education class.
• Physical education class activities should be done in a way that minimizes contact and the sharing of handheld equipment.
• There will be no communal or shared school supplies. If an exception has to be made it will be disinfected.
• When library or classroom books are checked back in there will be a three-day waiting period after books are wiped down until they are returned to the shelves. The use of digital materials will be encouraged.
Families will have a districtrun virtual option if they choose not to send students back to schools for in-person instruction.
Parents or guardians will be required to monitor their child’s symptoms each morning, including taking their child’s temperature. If a parent is unable to take their child’s temperature because they do not have a thermometer, they must contact the school nurse.
Transportation plan
• Buildings will limit the number of buses that can disembark at one time and stagger dismissal times, if possible.
• There will be a limit of two students per seat on buses in order to minimize the number of students on the bus. Students should spread out to the extent feasible.
• Seating charts should be maintained to assist with contact tracing.
• Students and bus drivers will be required to wear coverings while on buses.
• Students will report directly to a designated area upon arrival at the buildings.
• Adding more bus stops to minimize the number of students waiting together will be considered.
• Buses will be loaded by filling seats from back to front to limit students walking past students to find a seat.
• Students will not be seated in the front row of the bus. This will promote social distancing from the bus driver.
• Seats will be assigned by cohort or students from the same family to sit together, or both.
• In the event of a positive COVID-19 case on a bus, the bus will be out of service for a period of two to five days and will be sanitized using electrostatic foggers.
• Individuals who are self-quarantining or have been diagnosed with a confirmed or probable case of COVID-19 may not drop off or pick up children from school.
• Bus drivers will disinfect high-contact areas around the doors between each run.
Monitoring health
• Students and parents or guardians must perform a symptom screening before arriving at school or the bus stop each day.
• Parents or guardians will be required to monitor their child’s symptoms each morning, including taking their child’s temperature. If a parent is unable to take their child’s temperature because they do not have a thermometer, they must contact the school nurse.
• Students with symptoms should not be put on the bus nor sent to school.
• All staff, contractors and visitors will be required to self-monitor their temperatures and symptoms and must stay home if sick.
• Flexible attendance policies will be developed to help encourage those who are ill to stay home.
• If a child develops COVID-19 symptoms while at school, they will be sent to the COVID-19 isolation room for further evaluation. If the evaluation determines concern, they will stay separated, wear a mask and be behind a curtain or plexiglass divider, where available. Parents or guardians will be contacted to take the students home.
• Staff, contractors or visitors will be sent home if they become ill and show COVID-19 symptoms.
• Staff and students with fever or symptoms that may be associated with COVID-19 and no known direct exposure to a person with COVID-19 may return to school when they are asymptomatic and have been fever free for at least 24 hours without the use of fever-reducing medicine or have confirmation of an alternative diagnosis from a health care provider that explains the COVID-19-like symptoms.
• Staff or students with symptoms who have had a direct exposure to a person with COVID-19 will be considered probable cases and should remain excluded from school or work until release from isolation criteria has been met.
Other
• Essential volunteers will be permitted at the principal’s discretion as long as they follow all protocols and procedures.
• Items being brought to school will have a designated outside area for dropoff, visitors bringing these items will not come into the building.