MMS 2020-2021 Re-Entry Plan

• Mask: Masks will be worn at all times except for while eating lunch, during PE and when social distancing of at least 3 feet cannot occur.
• What is a mask? The following standards should be applied to face masks at M-GSD:
•  Mask should fit snugly against the face without being too tight or too loose.
•  Mask must cover below the chin and above the nose.
•  Mask coverage must end below the eyes.
•  Mask should allow for breathing without restriction.
•  Mask must be secured with ties or ear loops.
•  No mesh or crochet masks.
•  If mask cannot be successfully cleaned, throw the mask away. Otherwise, launder after every use (have multiple masks to trade out during the day/week). Increase cleaning by adding some bleach or hydrogen peroxide (follow manufacturer’s guidelines).
•  Mask appearance must be school appropriate and not disrupt the educational process.
•  Face shields and gaiters are considered an appropriate substitution for face masks.
  
• Training: Professional development will be provided to all staff at start of school year on symptoms and screening measures.
• Divided Clinic Locations: There will be an area for students displaying symptoms who are waiting to be picked up and another area for medication distribution, etc.
• Seating Charts: Seating charts will be required on buses, in classrooms, and in the cafeteria.
• Hand Washing: Hand washing will be required throughout the day. Additional hand sanitizer will be available in each classroom.
• Water Bottles: Students will be allowed to carry water bottles. All water fountains will be shut down.
• Stay Home If Sick: Families must screen their children and keep them home if ill. Sick children will be directed immediately upon arrival to the nurse who will require him/her to be picked up if exhibiting symptoms.

The Monroe Gregg School Corporation 2020-2021 Health Plan

The Morgan County Health Department has developed the return to school health plan in

accordance with CDC and Indiana State Board of Health guidelines which will be strictly

enforced by the Monroe Gregg School district.

Signs and Symptoms of Covid-19

● Fever (100.4 or higher)

● Dry Cough

● Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing

● Fatigue

● Muscle or body aches

● Headache

● New loss of taste or smell

● Sore throat

● Nausea or vomiting

● Diarrhea

● Congestion or runny nose

Any student or staff member having a fever above 100.4 degrees, or two Covid symptoms will

be required to leave school immediately. They must self isolate at home for 10 days and follow

the guidelines below.

When is it safe to return to School

Neither the Morgan County Health Department or the Monroe Gregg School District can

require your student to be tested for Covid-19.

Untested

If your student has a fever or two or more Covid symptoms and is untested.

1. Student may return after 10 calendar days and must be fever free for 24 hours (without

medication).

a. Scenario 1- Your student wakes up on Monday morning with a fever of 101.0

degrees. Your student must stay at home for 10 days if you opt to NOT have

them tested for Covid-19. If you opt to have your student tested and they test

negative they still must isolate for 10 days at home.

2. Student may return with a doctor’s statement saying it is safe to attend school and

giving an alternate diagnosis.

a. Scenario 2- You receive a call from the school nurse, your child has a fever

greater than 100.4 degrees. Your student must leave the school immediately. If

you take your student to see their physician and it is determined they have an

alternate diagnosis (Strep throat, ear infection, etc.) They may return 24 hours

after the symptoms are resolved and have been fever free for 24 hour without

medication. Student must have a statement from the doctor stating it is safe for

the student to return to school. If you opt to not see a physician, your student will

be treated as Covid positive and must remain at home for 10 days from the onset

of symptoms.

Tested

Tested with Negative result

1. Student may return after 10 calendar days and must be fever free for 24 hours (without

medication) and symptoms improving.

2. Student may return with a doctor’s statement saying it is safe to attend school and

giving an alternate diagnosis.

3. Student who has tested negative for Covid but was a known close contact (defined

below) of a covid positive person, must complete a 14 day quarantine.

Test with a Positive result

1. Student must remain home and in isolation for 10 days from the day the test was taken.

a. Scenario: Student tests positive and has been in isolation. On day 7 of isolation

new Covid symptoms appear, with the new onset of symptoms a new 10 day

isolation start date will begin.

Close Contact

Covid- 19 positive person (within 6 ft. for more than 15 minutes)

1. Quarantine for 14 days before returning to school. Must remain symptom free or follow

the previous guidelines.

a. Scenario: Student tests positive and has 3 siblings at other schools. Siblings

should be quarantined for 14 days before returning to school. Testing is

recommended and results should be reported to the siblings school

• No external field trips or convocations until further notice .
• Visitors/Guests will be limited to main office and must wear a mask upon entry.
• Volunteers will not be scheduled until further notice.
• Students participating in E-Learning may not be permitted to participate in extra-curricular activities unless a waiver has been submitted and approved by IHSAA
• Parent conferences will be held by phone or virtually until further notice.
• Eliminate perfect attendance incentives for staff and students for 2020-2021.
• There will be an increase in cleaning protocols in all classrooms, bathrooms, hallways, and other shared spaces.
• Please see the link below for our COVID Decision Tree from the Indiana Department of Health. This outlines clinical procedures to help with the decision making process on whether to send your child to school or not in the event they are exhibiting symptoms.

Shorten Passing Periods to 2 minutes

This will decrease the time allotted for students to get to their next class, therefore putting the emphasis on travel rather than social. This will not impact any classes we share with the high school.

1st: 7:53-8:43

2nd: 8:45- 9:37

3rd: 9:39-10:31

4th: 10:33- 11:58

5th: 12:01-12:52

6th: 12:54-1:46

7th: 1:48-2:40

Limit Locker Usage

Students will all be issued a chrome book and should not have as many materials to store in their locker and it will not be necessary to visit their locker between each passing period.

We will let them use their locker before and after school and before and after Lunch (to get money, lunchbox, etc.), and before and after Gym, if they need to change shoes.

• We will need to move to digital notebooks in class. Students can still use loose leaf paper/notebooks and take a picture of their work to upload to their Google Drive so they have it digitally in the event they must be quarantined or absent for an extended period of time.

• Students can use their charger pouch to carry writing utensils and other school supplies

We will also stagger the locker assignments by grade level to try and keep the students socially distanced as much as possible.

We will explicitly schedule time during the day for classes to visit the restroom and wash their hands.

This will support the idea of a shortened passing period; students do not have to use their time to visit the restroom, they will be allowed to go at specific times during class.

This will increase student hygiene and positively affect the health and wellness of our students and staff. Teachers and staff will need to be understanding with students who need to use the restroom during class - one male and female student allowed at a time and must have a hall pass. A proposed schedule will be available soon.

Arrival Time

• As part of our effort to decrease the amount of time in the hallways, the district is changing the bus arrival time to 7:45 am instead of 7:35 am.

• Students will not be allowed to enter the building until 7:40 am, unless they are meeting with a staff member for tutoring or an ECA. The main office must be made aware of these scheduled times.

• Door 2 will remain locked until 7:40 am. Students who are wishing to enter the building prior to 7:40 am must do so through the main office and be checked in.

• Have satellite stations in the hallways for breakfast. Car riders will use the cafeteria to purchase breakfast and there will be 2 satellite stations available for bus riders.
  

Dismissal Time

Instead of releasing all of the students at 2:40 we will release students according to waves, just as they do in the elementary. Car riders and first wave students can be released at 2:40 and 2nd wave students can be released at 2:45 (when Peggy announces over the PA). If students have an ECA they are to report directly there by 3 pm. Students will NOT be allowed to linger at school.

Cleaning and Sanitizing Shared Classroom Materials

We will focus on having the students sanitize their hands before and after the use of shared materials. Lab equipment, games, or other shared materials should be cleaned or sanitized at the teacher's discretion and time availability. The best defense is having the students and staff sanitize or wash their hands before and after shared material use.

Cleaning and Sanitizing Classrooms

Teachers will sanitize student areas in between each class. Teachers can end instruction 2-3 minutes early to begin cleaning.

Aides and teachers with a prep that period will supervise in the hallways.

Other Classroom Procedures

• Limit movement of students within the classroom when applicable

• Classroom doors can remain open to eliminate touching the door knob and to help with ventilation. This will be at the teacher's discretion.

• Students will no longer "dress" for Gym

• When you are able, utilize outside space for class activities (notify the office when you do this)

Limit visitors in the building

All visitors will have to sign in - only enter if essential reasons and we will have disposable masks available for them to wear. We will have a tote outside for lunch boxes/materials that parents drop off

Field Trips

No external field trips will be scheduled until further notice

Eliminate the use of water fountains

Students can bring in their own bottles. The cafeteria will also have water for purchase.

Self-Screening

Parents, students and staff will need to self-screen their personal health and wellness before each school day.

PPE

Students and staff will be required to have a mask with them at all times. Below are the guidelines we will follow to determine when a mask should be worn:

• To comply with the new state mandate all students and staff are to wear a mask at all times except when eating, drinking,when social distancing of at least 3 feet cannot occur, or participating in PE/Band/Choir class.

• Once the mandate is lifted students will wear a mask during all transitions times as well as times in the classroom when social distancing is not an option.

• Teachers may need to remove any flexible seating options and extra furniture during this time so that we can add individual student desks to allow for social distancing.

• Teachers may purchase their own face shields or other PPE if they choose to do so

• Face masks, gaiters (or buffs), and face shields are acceptable PPE for students. These items are to be school appropriate and contain no hate speech or symbols. Please see above for specific mask guidelines.

Please see the information below for specific guidelines from the state.

• We will add a 6th grade lunch from 12-12:30 pm. This will decrease the number of students who are in our B Lunch
• We will have assigned seats during lunch - students will sit with peers from their 4th period class. We will place number cards on the tables for the first day of school to indicate the maximum capacity of students at that table.
• When dismissing tables to get in line we will be sure the students are able to social distance while waiting on their food. Our students have consistently been finished eating with 15 minutes left of lunch so we have time to spare.
• We will have a custodian and the cafeteria monitors wipe the tables and seats off in between each lunch.
• We will continue the practice of staggering the release of grade levels to the cafeteria to decrease the traffic in the hallways

• Houses will move to Monday and Wednesday during 4C. This will enable us to have consistent lunch periods during 4B with 7th and 8th and 5A with 6th M-F

• Rather than meeting as a large group during House meetings they can be split into two and utilize the two classrooms of the House Leaders.

• Houses can meet as a large group if doing so in the Gym or outside

• We will be incorporating the SEL curriculum Second Steps during our House meetings to help meet the growing social/emotional needs of our students.

• We will no longer have a Wellness period. We will intentionally schedule Houses to have the Gym on a rotation basis so that students have the opportunity for physical activity.

• M-GSD will be offering an E-learning option for our students. This option will be for a semester at a time. Students will be assigned courses through the Edmentum online curriculum program. A teacher will be assigned to work with the students and check in with them on a consistent basis.
• Students could potentially be e-learning for an extended period of time due to their illness or the illness of a family member and during this quarantine will need to have access to their class assignments and instruction.
• We will begin the process of shifting our instruction to a blended learning approach. This will allow for students to continue their studies in the event they are out of school.
• Our goal is to not have teachers plan two separate lessons, but rather to plan one blended lesson that can be used in both the physical and digital classroom.
• This will be a process and mind shift for all of us. Becky and Scott will continue to support each teacher through this and provide the resources needed so that we are all successful.

We will host an in person Back to School Night for our 6th grade on Monday, August 3rd. This will be a student only event, no parents. Students will enter the building through Door 2 and go to the auditorium where they will meet with Mrs. McPherson and Mr. Tucker to go over school procedures and expectations. They will then be taken on a guided tour of the building by one of the 6th grade teachers and be allowed time to walk their schedule and try their locker. Masks are required for students during this event.

7th and 8th Grade:

Grade levels will host a virtual Back to School event via Google Meet or a pre-recorded presentation that can be posted on our website and social media accounts. This is NOT set in stone and we are open to suggestions. Please let Becky know of other ideas you have!

• Students will meet in their homeroom class to receive their schedules and agendas.
• Mrs. McPherson and Mr. Tucker will host a grade level meeting with the 6th, 7th and 8th grade throughout the day to welcome them to MMS, go over school expectations, and new COVID-19 protocols.

• We will have a socially distanced fire and tornado drill. This schedule will be sent out to the teachers ahead of time for planning purposes.
• We will have our Sorting Ceremony and Bulldog Bylaw Boot Camp on Friday, August 7th. A schedule will be sent to teachers ahead of time for planning purposes,