UPDATE:
COVID-19 Planning & Preparedness
Dear Concord Hill School Community;
 
As part of the ongoing protection and prevention efforts employed by Concord Hill School in response to the Corona Virus (COVID-19), we wanted to share with you the following updates in Preparedness and Contingency Planning at CHS:
 
PROTECTION & PREVENTION

As we continue to monitor COVID-19 developments, we are working with area schools and local health officials to help ensure Concord Hill School is a safe and healthy learning environment, and that we, as a community, take responsibility to not only protect our students and school, but also the greater community at large.
 
We ask for the full cooperation of CHS families, faculty, and staff to help us implement the following recommendations, as outlined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:

  • Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, especially after going to the bathroom, before eating, and after blowing your nose, coughing, or sneezing.
  • Avoid close contact with people who are sick.
  • Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth.
  • Stay home when you are sick. 
  • Cover your cough or sneeze with a tissue, then throw the tissue in the trash.
  • Clean and disinfect frequently touched objects and surfaces daily using a disinfectant cleaning spray or wipe.

PREVENTION AT CHS

We have organized a CHS Task Force to assess the situation as it unfolds and to carefully consider the best strategies for protection and prevention at Concord Hill. To date we have instituted the following:

  • We have discontinued all physical greetings among faculty, staff, students, families and school visitors.
  • All lunches, snacks, and other food and drink distribution will be handled by adults wearing protective gloves.
  • We have increased our CHS cleaning staff.
  • We have enhanced all cleaning protocol to include deeper and more-frequent disinfection of classrooms and public spaces.
  • We now require hand disinfection by all CHS visitors upon Hunt Avenue entry.
  • We now require frequent hand washing by all staff, faculty, students, and visitors
  • We insist that all families adhere to Concord Hill’s existing Health Policy for Illnesses:

  • Do not send your child to school—or visit CHS, personally—if you have a cold, fever, diarrhea, or upset stomach.
  • Inform CHS immediately if your child develops a communicable disease so that we may notify parents of children that may have been exposed.
  • If a student becomes ill during the school day, we will notify a parent or caregiver to retrieve the child.
  • Students may not return to school unless they have been fever-free without medication for 24 hours.

HOME LEARNING

We are currently outlining contingency plans to engage our students remotely in the event of quarantine. We have been working closely with the CHS Director of Educational Technology and our System & Network Administrator to institute best practices and will review next steps during this week’s All-Staff Meeting. Please stay tuned for additional information.

TRAVEL

We rely on the cooperation of our community to maintain a healthy environment for everyone. We respectfully request that all Concord Hill families, faculty, and staff who are traveling domestically to areas with a significant COVID-19 outbreak —or internationally to a country with a Warning Level 2 or Level 3 — please notify Nate Dennison and Patty Gallagher via email.

In addition we ask that all families carefully consider the following prior to travel:

  • After return from travel to one of the above locations, you may be asked to stay home for 14 days, the maximum incubation period for the virus.

  • Please strongly consider travel interruptions and the potential impact on you, your family, and your community.

TALKING TO CHILDREN ABOUT COVID-19

Lauren Huntley, Concord Hill’s School Counselor, recommends the following resources and helpful guidelines for parents and families:





NEXT STEPS

Concord Hill School will continue to monitor news and recommendations from the CDC and World Health Organization . We will also continue to collaborate and share information with independent school associations, local independent schools, and professional colleagues to reevaluate our prevention and emergency preparedness plans, as needed.

COMMUNICATION

We will send any updates about Concord Hill’s COVID-19 Planning & Preparedness to our community via email. All related communication can be found on our COVID-19 Planning & Preparedness webpage . In the event of emergency, we will send information to parents by text, then follow protocol as outlined in on Page 18 (Emergency Preparedness) of our Parent Handbook & Directory.

We greatly appreciate your understanding and support. As always, please don’t hesitate to contact me with any questions or concerns. Thank you.

 
Sincerely,

Nate Dennison
Head of School
 
For the safety of CHS students, faculty, and staff,
all visitors are required to sign in at the Front Desk.