July 18, 2020
Dear Ranney Community,
We plan to re-open campus in September for in-person instruction, 5-days per week, while allowing families the flexibility to opt for their children to continue distance learning from home. Our Reopening Task Force, comprised of members of the Board of Trustees, Medical Advisory Board, and administrative leadership team, are developing a thoughtful, prudent, and comprehensive strategy to bring the community back together on campus in the fall. We will share the details of our Reopening Plan with you in a series of weekly communications released each Friday morning in a "Reopening Roundup". We ask for your patience as we continue to develop and refine certain elements of the plan as new information emerges on an almost daily basis. Please note that all of our reopening plans are subject to changes in executive orders.
Our primary concern is to maintain the health and safety of our students, faculty and staff. We are keenly aware of the risk posed by COVID-19, and also understand that the safety protocols we must implement will have a profound impact on almost every aspect of school life. We will all have to continue to be flexible and patient. We will have to return with a collective sense of shared responsibility for other members of the community. We must understand that our individual actions on and off campus will affect the health and well-being of our friends and colleagues.
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Please share your feedback in this survey about reopening by July 21st:
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While campus will be open for in-person instruction to all students in Beginners through Grade 12, families will have the option to keep their children at home to continue distance learning. Both Middle and Upper School will continue with a class schedule similar to the last quarter of the school year with 70-minute classes (four blocks per day). This will not only reduce the number of transitions required during the school day, but will also allow students who are distance learning to participate in class along-side their peers. Lower School will continue with its regular schedule and day rotation, but specials teachers will come to the homeroom classroom. We will send more details about the changes to the academic schedule and the plan for simultaneous distance learning in next week’s Reopening Roundup (July 24). Whether students are on campus or learning remotely, we will continue to deliver the best of Ranney School and maintain our absolute commitment to know and value every child.
To follow is an outline of the Environmental and Administrative controls we are putting into place to keep our community safe:
- Classroom Configuration. Ranney is fortunate that our small class sizes and spacious campus allow our school to be flexible in responding to this global pandemic. We are renovating classroom spaces and analyzing sectioning to ensure our students will have ample room for social distancing in the classroom. We are re-envisioning lunch delivery; students will eat in small groups rather than in dining halls. Large gatherings will continue to be held in a virtual format. We are expanding some classrooms and will likely re-purpose many of the large spaces, particularly Panther Hall, the dining halls and libraries. Our many outdoor spaces, including our new Outdoor Learning Pavilion and Garden, will allow faculty and students to engage in classes outside. We will strictly limit shared student resources. We will also have signage posted throughout campus reminding students to practice social distancing and proper hygiene.
- Campus Sanitization and Cleaning. We have engaged BioProtectors to disinfect the entire campus with a deep clean in mid-August. BioProtectors employs electrostatic spraying of disinfectant and proprietary antimicrobial coating products to prevent COVID-19 from attaching to surfaces. We are planning a second cleaning during Thanksgiving break. We are expanding the hours of our daily cleaning service. We will provide sanitization stations throughout campus and students at all grade levels will be reminded to regularly wash their hands.
- Masks. We will require masks for all Lower, Middle and Upper School students as well as faculty and staff, where feasible. Based on changing guidance, we will, in fact, require our youngest learners in Early Childhood and Lower School to wear masks. Our faculty will be working with children to understand the importance of mask use, understanding that this will be a challenge for our youngest students. This policy is based on the latest recommendations by the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Center for Disease Control (CDC), and the New Jersey's Governor's Office. We will strictly limit parents' and visitors' access to buildings on campus, and of course, any visitors admitted will be required to complete a health screening and wear masks.
- Health Screening. We are expanding our state-of-the art Health Office spaces and resources. Students, faculty and staff will be required to complete a health screening prior to entering school buildings each morning (procedural details to come). It will be critical that parents provide accurate information regarding their children's health and concerns related to possible exposure to COVID-19. If a child is experiencing any symptoms of illness they must stay home. We will be strictly enforcing our updated Sick Policy. We will conduct periodic temperature checks of students while on campus. If a student, faculty, or staff member is exposed to COVID-19, we will require them to quarantine at home for a minimum of 14 days.
The current iteration of our
2020 Reopening Plan
i
s a dynamic document that we will continue to refine and build upon in the coming weeks. We would like to ask you to take a moment to complete a brief
Fall Reopening Survey
(please submit feedback
by
July 21st).
Each Friday morning, we will share more details about particular elements of the Reopening Plan. Next week, we will detail changes to the academic schedule and the option of continued distance learning. In future communications, we will detail changes to Athletics, Co-Curriculars, Health Office and screening/check-in protocols, and the Student Handbook. Our weekly updates will be posted on
https://www.ranneyschool.org/covid-19.
We are excited to welcome your children back to campus in September. Thank you for your partnership, flexibility and resilience. Please feel free to email
safety@ranneyschool.org
with any questions or concerns.
Sincerely,
Dr. John Griffith, Head of School
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