COVID-19

These additional health and safety precautions are in place to acknowledge potential exposure, mitigate risks, and promote safety for our entire community while on campus. More specifics will be communicated before July 31. 

• Adhere to school, local, state, and federal recommendations and health guidelines as it relates to health and safety precautions.
• Daily screenings will take place in the form of self-reporting, independent precaution, and symptom evaluation by the Nurses and other licensed practitioners to inform the up-to-date risk level for the school.
• Based on current health protocols and requirements, masks are required for everyone while on campus (four cloth masks will be provided for employees and students). We understand and acknowledge that developmentally our youngest learners may have difficulty wearing masks all day. We will continue to research options to stay within recommendations and guidelines while paying particular attention to our Lower School students' needs.
• Sanitizing and cleaning processes will increase, including in between classes.
• Increase protocols to ensure proper hygiene, including hand-washing/sanitizing stations, tissues and paper towels, disinfectant wipes or spray, and gloves.
• Before the campus opens, students and employees will complete a required health assessment/questionnaire to assess household exposure to COVID-19 and overall risk level within our school community.
• Annual health forms for all employees and families including a new COVID-19 high-risk assessment, COVID-19 waiver, and COVID-19 school policy compliance pledge.
• Infection control measures in accordance with the new Charlotte Country Day School COVID-19 policy.
• New education and training requirements, along with increased communication for all members of the community related to policies and procedures.
• Campus signage on preventing illness, health and safety precautions, social distancing, and wayfinding.
• Each campus will have two health facilities: one for isolation of suspected COVID-19 patients and one for daily health room operations.
• Follow CDC and NCDHHS protocol regarding notification and contact tracing in the instance of a confirmed positive for COVID-19.

Classrooms, Group spaces, Events, Visitors, and Lunch.

• Adhere to school, local, state, and federal recommendations and health guidelines as it relates to social distancing and group size.
• In our current planning, the start of school will have smaller classroom sizes while maintaining 6 foot social distancing. The school will maximize classroom usage and outdoor spaces for all grade levels as good stewards of our resources.

• Bus transportation may be limited or unavailable due to social distance requirements. Every effort is being made to accommodate the needs of our families. Decisions regarding bus transportation will be made by the end of July.

• Lower School lunch will take place in the classrooms with the option to bring or purchase lunch for delivery to the classrooms. Middle and Upper School lunch will take place in the cafeterias with staggered lunch times to allow for social distancing requirements. We will limit unnecessary interactions with outside food and material vendors. This includes parent deliveries of forgotten items such as lunches and books.
• Use of outdoor spaces whenever possible.
• Morning and afternoon carpool modifications with faculty and volunteers assisting car exiting, but with protective measures, no direct contact, and limited interactions.
• Institution of capacity limits to allow for social distancing in spaces such as the gym, special area classrooms, hallways, etc.
• Limited or rescheduled group activities such as no field trips through September. Progression will seek advice from a wide variety of available sources, including athletic and academic associations.
• Establish dedicated entrances and exits to ensure proper traffic flow and adhere to social distancing requirements.
• Modification of programs and events in compliance with limits on crowd sizes and social distancing measures.
• Utilize staggered scheduling as needed.
• Changes to campus access for visitors and parents. Initially, we will limit Classroom Parent Volunteers until such time state guidance allows this.
• Continued use of online and virtual platforms in conjunction with in-person services to keep contact at safer levels in the areas of academic instruction, student activities, and volunteer group meetings.

All extracurricular activities will adhere to overall school policies and guidelines as they relate to social distancing rules and practices.

After School/Extended Day

Extended Day will be open with some modifications to meet the policies and protocols of the school, county, state, and associations. 

Athletics

Refer to the Athletics COVID-19 webpage for recent updates.

Arts Beyond Curriculum

Plays, performances, and musicals beyond the curriculum will all be adjusted to meet the guidelines and requirements necessary.

International Studies

• Initially, no school-sponsored global programs abroad and/or the welcoming of international groups to campus. We will re-evaluate the status of global programs abroad starting with trips scheduled for Spring 2021.
• International Studies will adhere to school, local, state, and federal guidelines and restrictions for global programs.
• Instead of global programs abroad, there will be an even greater emphasis on global programming through curriculum and virtual initiatives.
• All globally-themed extracurricular programs will start on a virtual platform (on-campus learning model) and eventually expand locally in the community (i.e. off-campus speakers and opportunities) when deemed appropriate by the school.
• Utilize internal and local partners to bring global programs, learning initiatives, and extracurricular opportunities to campus.
• Ensure quality and safety of programming by collaborating and communicating with other global programs around the country.

Illness at School

• Anyone with symptoms during school should immediately be sent to the Nurse.
• Each campus will have two health facilities – one for isolation of suspected COVID-19 patients and one for daily health room operations.
• We will adhere to local and state government policies in regard to communicable diseases. We also follow national recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS) for the most up-to-date information on current COVID-19 best practice.

Notification and Contact Tracing

Follow CDC and NCDHHS protocol regarding notification and contact tracing in the instance of a confirmed positive for COVID-19.

The school is committed to accommodating students, faculty, and staff who need to operate remotely due to being in a high-risk category related to COVID-19. Procedures and guidelines for handling absences will follow Federal and State guidelines. Please complete the questionnaire in your Magnus Health Portal to indicate this need. 

Most people within the Country Day community fall within the low-risk category, however like with any illness, heightened screening for those higher-risk individuals will help to keep the entire community safer. Based on available, current information and clinical expertise, it appears that older adults and people of any age who have underlying medical conditions may be at higher risk for severe illness from COVID-19:

• People age 65+
• People with underlying medical conditions including, but not limited to:
  • Chronic lung disease
  • Moderate to severe asthma
  • Serious heart conditions
  • Immunocompromise (Ex: anyone undergoing or having recently undergone cancer treatment, bone marrow or organ transplantation, autoimmune disease or other immune deficiencies, HIV or AIDS, prolonged use of corticosteroids and other immune weakening medications, smokers, etc.)
  • Severe obesity
  • Diabetes
  • Chronic kidney disease undergoing dialysis
  • Liver disease

Our culture of community is also a very important aspect of the school experience. Events, social, and wellness experiences will be created to meet the safety requirements.

Prior to starting school in August, in an effort to keep our longstanding traditions like the LS Lemonade Party alive, these events will be transformed to allow new families to visit campus in a distanced fashion, get acclimated to the school facilities, meet with their new teachers, and be welcomed into our community.

• Other Grades may hold “virtual” welcome sessions (or a series of sessions) so students and parents entering new grades can interact with teachers in their classrooms. Upper School and Middle School will have a hybrid approach.

• E-mail updates were sent on July 1 and July 17. A subsequent e-mail will be sent the week of July 20.
• Weekly updates will be posted on this website and on social media every Monday starting in July.
• Weekly e-mails will begin in August from the division heads.

• Any changes to the learning models will be communicated by an e-mail from Mark Reed as well as a phone call and text message.