COVID-19 Protocols
highlights of the campus safety plan
Implemented during the school year 2020-2021. Approved by the San Mateo County Office of Education (SMCOE), San Mateo County Health (SMCH) and the California Department of Public Health (CDPH), following the guidance of the Pandemic Recovery Framework (PRF).
- MAXIMUM COHORT SIZE
- HEALTH & HYGIENE
- FACE COVERINGS
- PHYSICAL DISTANCING
- LIMITING GATHERINGS
- TESTING
- CONTACT TRACING
- PANDEMIC RESPONSE PLAN
- GUIDELINES & PROCEDURES
MAXIMUM COHORT SIZE
The maximum capacity for each classroom has been determined based on the requirement to maintain physical distance of 6 feet between students and teachers. Students will be assigned a homeroom classroom and grouped in stable cohorts that do not exceed classroom capacity, which is determined by the ability to implement physical distancing according to CDC and San Mateo County Department of Public Health guidelines. Students will remain in their homeroom cohort throughout their school day. Cohorts will be 12 students on average and will not exceed 14.
HEALTH & HYGIENE
Health ScreeningS
All individuals will be required to participate in a health screening, that includes:
- Curb-side touch-less temperature check (approx. 30-sec each, individuals must have a temperature read of 100.3 or lower)
- Designated staff will scan and interview students for symptoms
- We ask that everyone remain in their car with masks on during the symptom and temperature check process.
- Once cleared, students will be asked to exit cars and keep their face covering on at all times
- Health screening information will be documented and kept confidential
Hand-Washing
New sinks have been installed on the exterior of our campus buildings to allow students to sanitize prior to entering a building. Upon completion of the car scan and temperature check students will:
- Follow signage to safety get in line for sinks supporting 6’ physical distance
- Students will be directed and guided by a designated staff member to wash their hands thoroughly for a minimum of of 20 secs using soap and water
- Students will fully dry their hands
- After washing, students will follow the signage to their path to their classrooms with direction from staff as needed.
Cleaning and Disinfection
Sea Crest School has updated its custodial contract to clearly specify the protocols required of the service provider to clean our campus in accordance with CDC and San Mateo County Department of Public Health guidelines. Procedures include:
- Cleaning: washing/rinsing/wiping methods, use of color-coded microfiber cloths to reduce the crossover contamination risk of using the same cloths to clean multiple spaces.
- Disinfecting: perform after cleaning, ensure ventilation, following manufacture instructions including PPE required, dilution rates, application methods, contact times and residue removal.
The service provider may only use cleaning products approved by the School and must store products securely away from students. In addition, the service provider must train all of their staff on these procedures. The contract also specifies all high-touch items that require daily disinfection on campus.
The School has also increased the frequency of cleaning. In addition to the regular nightly cleaning schedule, the School will have a custodial staff person on campus during the day to regularly clean and disinfect high-touch surfaces in common areas (e.g. door handles, railings, sink handles and restrooms).
The school consulted with Karen Wang, PhD and Director of Collaborative on Health and the Environment (CHE) to ensure school cleaning and disinfecting supplies are both safe and effective for students and staff. We are using Hydrogen Peroxide based products as they are effective disinfectants and safer than Quat or bleach based solutions. We have placed Hydrogen Peroxide based disinfecting cleaner in each room to facilitate regular disinfection by staff throughout the day.
Playground Equipment
Students will wash or sanitize their hands prior to using playground equipment, and equipment will be restricted to one student cohort at a time. Custodial staff will clean high-touch playground surfaces (e.g. railings) during and after the end of each school day.
FACE COVERINGS
All students must wear a face mask while at school, except during designated times (e.g. eating lunch), in accordance with the following guidelines:
- Source: students are required to bring their own face covering from home.
- Construction: face coverings must be made out of breathable cloth materials and are not surgical face masks, respirators, or personal protective equipment.
- Functionality: face coverings must cover a student’s entire nose and mouth area, and be secured to the student’s head.
- Cleaning & Maintenance: students and parents are responsible for maintaining face coverings with proper care and they should be washed regularly per CDC guidance.
- Damage: face coverings that no longer cover the nose and mouth, do not stay on the face, are soiled, or have holes or tears are not acceptable and must be discarded.
The School will have face masks or face shields available to students whose face coverings become lost or damaged while at school.
Parents must help their children comply with CDC guidance on proper use, removal, and washing of cloth face coverings. Parents should discuss proper use of face coverings with their children, and have children practice wearing face coverings prior to the start of school.
Face masks that are otherwise attached to the student (e.g. with a strap around the neck) are strongly encouraged. If a student is wearing a face covering that secures to their ears, the student must bring a clean ziploc bag to safely store their face covering while they are eating.
Students with medical conditions or disabilities that prevent them from being able to wear a cloth face covering will be provided with accommodations which will be determined on a case-by-case basis consistent with the school’s policy on reasonable accommodation of students. Students not qualifying for accommodations and refusing to wear face coverings will be excused from campus and shift to Distance Learning.
PHYSICAL DISTANCING
Campus
Individuals on campus will maintain at least 6 feet of physical distance from each other at all times, to the greatest extent possible, and are prohibited from engaging in handshakes, hugs, or any other unnecessary physical contact with any other person while on campus. Employees will refrain from using another employee’s phone, desk, office, or other work tool or equipment.
Employees will minimize movement and congregation, as much as practicable, in all campus environments including but not limited to, hallways, break rooms, the staff workroom, classrooms, restrooms, and playgrounds/outdoor spaces.
The School rearranged classrooms, office spaces, and other workstations to decrease the capacity for conference and meeting and to allow for 6 feet between individuals. If physical distancing between workspaces or between employees and students is not possible, the School may add physical barriers (such as a plexiglass shield) that cannot be moved to increase protection against airborne particles. Employees will enforce student physical distancing measures throughout campus.
Signage and Mapping
The school has worked at creating a new campus flow to allow students and teachers access to classrooms primarily from external doors, clear and open walkways and designated spaces for student and teacher learning, breaks and play while keeping to social distancing.
Eating and Play
The school has created a schedule and invested in additional outdoor play and eating spaces to allow students to safely eat and play and will maintain a 6 foot social distance from each other. For the present time, outside lunch service will be suspended. Students are not permitted to touch or share others’ food. Teachers will be expected to manage their student group within their assigned designated area of the campus during recess and lunch, and will not be permitted to leave their designated area.
Restrooms
Every grade level will be assigned restrooms throughout the campus to minimize cross cohort interaction. Faculty and staff will be assigned specific restrooms to use. All members of the community will be encouraged to take precaution when using the restroom, avoid touching surfaces and practice proper hygiene. Touch-less sinks and soap dispensers have been installed throughout the campus.
Ventilation
Sea Crest School has no HVAC system in our Lower School and relies on fresh air from windows and exterior doors for ventilation, and radiant heating in the floor when the weather gets cooler.
Our first floor Middle School classrooms all have large banks of windows and two-thirds also have exterior doors which will both be used for ventilation. When the weather gets cooler we use an HVAC system for heat. We have upgraded the HVAC filters to MERV 13 and increased the filter replacement schedule.
LIMITING GATHERINGS
Staggered Drop-off and Pick-up
Our drop-off and pick-up, class, break and recess schedules have been staggered to allow for physical distancing practices and minimizing mixing of groups under the guidance of the CDC, California State Guidelines and San Mateo County. Please note that carpooling will not be allowed to help support students remaining in their cohorts.
Classroom Access
Once students have completed the symptoms check, touch-less temperature check, and hand washing at drop-off, they will be guided to follow the signage to enter their classrooms from external access.
Recess & Lunch
Student recess and lunch periods will be on a staggered schedule according to student cohort groups. Groups will be assigned to separate designated outdoor spaces for play activities and will not be allowed to mix with other student cohorts. Lunch will take place at designated outdoor tables. For the present time, outside lunch service will be suspended. Students are not permitted to touch or share others’ food. Teachers will be expected to manage their student group within their assigned designated area of the campus during recess and lunch, and will not be permitted to leave their designated area.
Physical Education & Athletics
Student physical education and athletics will take place in the Sea Crest Event Center (gym) and outdoors in either the grass field or blacktop area. Teachers will develop instructions for appropriate physically distanced outdoor activities that are easy for students to understand and are developmentally appropriate. Activities will not involve physical contact between students and will enable students to maintain a distance of at least 6 feet from each other.
Field Trips and School Assemblies
Teachers are encouraged to plan virtual activities and events in lieu of field trips, assemblies, and on-site performances. The School will stagger use of communal spaces such as the outdoor spaces to minimize gatherings.
Except as authorized in writing by the Head of School, all School facilities will remain closed for student assemblies, performances, or other large gatherings, until further notice.
Outdoor Classroom Space
The school will utilize the following outdoor classroom space for instruction, weather permitting:
- grass field
- mindfulness garden
- amphitheater
- school garden area
- nature play area
- blacktop (which will be divided up with barriers to physically separate cohorts)
- outdoor table areas
Teachers will plan to have access to technology to broadcast instruction due to support physical distancing (e.g., megaphone or microphone).
Closed Campus
Sea Crest School will be closed to all visitors and parents throughout the operating hours of the school day. If a parent needs to come onto campus for an emergency reason, they must get clearance from Administration and complete the symptom scan and temperature check. All deliveries and outside vendors have been rescheduled to service the school outside of student hours.
Meetings
Non-essential in-person meetings will be cancelled or postponed. Traditionally in-person essential meetings, including parent-teacher conferences, will be replaced with other means of communications, such as phone conferences or a virtual format. If an in-person meeting is held, it must take place in a location that allows all individuals to maintain a minimum distance of 6 feet and all individuals should sign-in to document attendees. Persons attending the meeting should disinfect the space they occupied during the meeting (e.g., chair, area of the table at which they sat), and the location used for the meeting must be cleaned and disinfected by custodial staff before it can be used again.
TESTING
Sea Crest is contracting with Eurofins Scientific (“Eurofins”) to conduct periodic COVID-19 testing of our employees. Eurofins will send test kits to our school and tests will be administered by registered nurses. Samples will be couriered to Eurofins’ local lab in Fremont, CA and they have committed to a 24-48 hour turn-around for test results. Employees will be tested prior to working with students on campus, and will be tested at least every other month thereafter.
CONTACT TRACING
Sea Crest School is prepared to follow Contact Tracing guidelines as outlined in by the CDC and the San Mateo County Department of Public Health to help reduce the spread of COVID-19. We have a pandemic response/contact tracing coordinator that will be using the following guidelines for our school community:
- Interviewing people with COVID-19 to identify everyone with whom they had close contact during the time they may have been infectious;
- Notifying contacts of their potential exposure;
- Referring contacts for testing;
- Monitoring contacts for signs and symptoms of COVID-19; and
- Connecting contacts with services they might need during the self-quarantine period.
All communication related to contact tracing is private and confidential.
To prevent the further spread of disease, COVID-19 contacts are encouraged to stay home and maintain social distance (at least 6 feet) from others until 14 days after their last exposure to a person with COVID-19. Contacts should monitor themselves by checking their temperature twice daily and watching for symptoms of COVID-19.
People with COVID-19 have had a wide range of symptoms reported – ranging from mild symptoms to severe illness.
These symptoms may appear 2-14 days after exposure to the virus:
- Fever
- Cough
- Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing
- Diarrhea
- Chills
- Repeated shaking with chills
- Muscle pain
- Headache
- Sore throat
- New loss of taste or smell
Symptom Checker
Use the CDC online tool to help you make decisions and seek appropriate medical care.
PANDEMIC RESPONSE PLAN
- Scenario 1 - Presentation of Symptoms
- Scenario 2 - Close Contact with Positive COVID-19 Person
- Scenario 3 - Positive COVID-19 Test
- Scenario 4 - Negative COVID-19 Test
- Response Team
Scenario 1 - Presentation of Symptoms
1. To be used when a student presents symptoms of COVID-19 either during screening or throughout the school day.
Actions and Communications:
- The cohort remains open.
- The teacher or other adult identifying symptoms reports it to the Pandemic Coordinator and Director of Facilities, and brings the class outside (if applicable) so that the classroom may be cleaned and disinfected.
- The Pandemic Coordinator escorts the child to the isolation room (room 24 in the gym building) and notifies the Head of School who contacts their parents for pick-up. Pandemic Coordinator fills out a Google form to capture detailed information about the student.
- Pandemic Coordinator may seek emergency medical attention if student symptoms become severe, including persistent pain or pressure in the chest, confusion, or bluish lips or face.
- Head of School advises the parent to:
- Exclude student from the in-person cohort on our campus for 10 days and quarantine household members
- Help the student access distance learning if they are well enough to do so
- Monitor student’s symptoms and other household members and contact their health provider for advice. Notify Head of School of changes
- Consider scheduling COVID-19 test and notify the Head of School of a positive test result.
- Director of Facilities coordinates cleaning and disinfection of the classroom and other spaces the student visited that day.
- The Head of School notifies San Mateo County Department of Public Health
- The San Mateo Department of Public Health advises of any applicable next steps and potential notification requirements.
2. To be used when an employee presents symptoms of COVID-19 either during screening or throughout the school day.
Actions and Communications:
- The cohort remains open.
- The employee immediately reports it to their Supervisor.
- The employee's Supervisor notifies the Head of School and determines an immediate substitute / student supervision plan.
- Substitute brings the class outside (if applicable) so that the classroom may be cleaned and disinfected.
- Pandemic Coordinator meets the employee in the isolation room (room 24 in the gym building) and fills out a Google form to capture detailed information about the employee.
- If the employee is well enough to drive, they leave campus as soon as possible.
- If not, Pandemic Coordinator notifies their emergency contact to arrange for transport home.
- Pandemic Coordinator may seek emergency medical attention if employee symptoms become severe, including persistent pain or pressure in the chest, confusion, or bluish lips or face.
- Director of Facilities coordinates cleaning and disinfection of the classroom/office and other spaces the employee visited that day.
- The Head of School notifies San Mateo County Department of Public Health
- The San Mateo County Department of Public Health advises of any applicable next steps and potential notification requirements.
Scenario 2 - Close Contact with Positive COVID-19 Person
To be utilized when a student or employee lives with a person or has been in close contact with a person who has tested positive for COVID-19.
Actions and Communications:
- The cohort remains open
- The employee or student’s parent is expected to:
- Report this to the Head of School immediately
- Be excluded from the in-person cohort on our campus for 14 days
- Access their learning and/or teaching through distance learning
- Quarantine (themselves and and all household members), monitor symptoms, and contact their health providers and/or Public Health Officials for additional steps and to schedule testing.
- The Head of School gathers any additional information regarding the details of known contact and forwards this information to the San Mateo County Department of Public Health
- The San Mateo Department of Public Health will advise of any additional next steps
- All families of students and staff members are notified that a student or staff member has a household member or was in close contact with someone that has tested positive for COVID-19
- If the student or staff member has siblings, family or household members at other school sites with possible exposure, they will be excused from school and The San Mateo Department of Public Health contacted to assess exposure risk and determine next steps
Scenario 3 - Positive COVID-19 Test
To be utilized when a student or staff member tests positive for COVID-19
Actions and Communications
- Any cohort with which the student or staff member interacted will be closed for 14 days from that last known exposure.
- All families of students and staff members of the cohort or shared common space will be notified with a phone call by the Head of School
- A letter will be sent following the phone call notification stating that a student or staff member in the cohort has tested positive for COVID-19
- Students and staff should be quarantined for 14 days from the date of last known contact.
- During 14 days of quarantine, students will be able to access their learning through distance learning.
- The Head of School should gather any additional information regarding the details of known contact and forward this information to the San Mateo County Department of Public Health
- The San Mateo Department of Public Health will advise of any additional next steps
- If the student or staff member has siblings, family or household members at other school sites with possible exposure they will be excused from school and The San Mateo Department of Public Health contacted to assess exposure risk and determine next steps
- The entire cohort of staff and students should be tested working with their health care providers and the school/San Mateo County of public health
- Further testing of family members may be advised based on cohort test member results.
Scenario 4 - Negative COVID-19 Test
To be utilized when a student or staff member who has quarantined or isolated for any of the reasons in scenarios one, two or three and is tested and tests negative.
- Student or Employee completes “Return to School” or “Return to Work” as applicable.
Actions and Communications
- The cohort remains open.
- Even through the student or staff member has tested negative, if the student or staff member has had close contact with an individual who has tested positive for COVID-19, they must remain in quarantine or isolation for 14 days from last known contact with the individual
- Letter: All families of students and staff of the cohort will be notified that the student or staff member tested negative via a letter.
Response Team
Roles & Responsibilities in Pandemic Response:
Lauren Miller
Head of School
- Communication with parents regarding students presenting symptoms
- Communication with San Mateo County Health on
- Notifying school community regarding potential exposure
Jacquie Cuvelier
Director of Finance & Operations
- Manage confidentiality of student and medical information
- Monitor compliance with Protocols
Andrew Geller
Director of Facilities
- Coordinate cleaning and disinfection of potentially contaminated campus spaces
Lee Ann Tarling
Pandemic Response Coordinator
- Manage isolation room and care for students and employees presenting symptoms until departure from campus
- Gather data on student and employee school cases
GUIDELINES & PROCEDURES
Sea Crest is committed to helping to reduce the spread of COVID 19 in our community while providing a safe environment for our students and teachers. Guidelines and procedures outlined in our Campus Reopening Plan, Family Handbook, Family COVID-19 Addendum, Employment Handbook and Employment COVID-19 Addendum are to be strictly adhered.
Sea Crest families, faculty and staff are all required to sign sign acknowledgement that they have been read and understood these handbooks in addition to a Community Pledge to ensure we are following the CDC and San Mateo County Department of Public Health guidelines on reducing the spread.
*As testing methods evolve, county guidelines are updated or vaccines become available, Sea Crest school will update our processes to best protect our community.
If you have any questions or comments, please reach out to us at communications@seacrestschool.org.
— Thank you. Stay Safe. —