Preparing Students to Return to Campus

• Everyone will need to do their morning health screening at home—this includes a temperature check and answering some questions.
• If there are multiple children, explain that if one has symptoms, all siblings will need to stay home.
• Make sure to pack extra masks, a refillable water bottle, and layers of clothes to stay comfortable while at school.

Talk about how Drop-off and Pickup will work.

• Carpooling is discouraged.
• Everyone must arrive to school in a mask (even drivers, please!).
• An adult will help students out of the car and direct students where to go.
• Students will need to have their temperature taken and students in grades 4-8 will answer a few questions.
• Once they pass the health screening, students will sanitize their hands.
• Students will have to stay six feet apart. There will be markers on the ground to help!
• Review the “paths to class” maps
• Review the classroom maps
• For pick-up, students will be supervised and directed out of the building (same one-way hallways, physically-distanced lines…etc…)
• If there are multiple students, explain that the younger student will be supervised and will wait until the older sibling’s slightly later pick-up time and come out together.
• Note: 5th Graders with siblings will walk from the Circle Drive exit to Webster for pick-up with their sibling.

Prepare for/Practice the daily health screening at school.

• All students will have their temperatures taken.
• All students 4th grade and above will answer a few screening questions.

• If the initial screening temperature reading is 100 degrees or above, students will be sent to the Nurse’s Office for a second screening. Please try not to feel embarrassed. The school is just trying to create the lowest-risk possible for the community.
• Those students will be supervised and physically distant (at least six feet apart).
• They will have a second temperature reading and the Nurse will ask more about how the student is feeling.
• If it is decided they need to go home, the Nurse will call their parent/guardian to come pick them—and any siblings—up.
• Students who begin to show symptoms during the school day will also be asked to go to the Nurse and may also be sent home as well.

• Everyone will be wearing masks.
• Everyone—friends and teachers—will be physically distant (at least six feet) all the time.
• Desks and workstations will be physically separated and may all face the same direction.
• In the hallways, traffic will only go one direction, and everyone will need to walk in orderly, distanced lines.
• Everyone will wash and sanitize hands throughout the day...before and after each activity.
• There will be smaller groups of friends in classrooms versus bigger class size (for JK-5).
• In JK-5, lead teacher and assistant teachers will rotate between the two pods in the class. Students will stay in the classrooms all day (except for gym and recess). Specials teachers (like music, art, etc…) will come to your classrooms for three weeks at a time.
• In 6-8, students will be in bigger spaces and will stay with their section all day except recess and gym. Teachers will come to you. Sections will rotate physical locations in the building every few weeks.
• Meals and snacks will be individually packaged and will come to the classroom. Students will wash hands before and after and take off masks to eat. More on lunch at fwparker.org/lunch.
• Counselors will be available to meet with students one on one at the school and maybe continue to teach via videos or virtually.
• Learning Resource teachers will meet with students one on one and probably won’t go into classrooms for observations.
• Gym and recess and maybe even lunch will be outside whenever possible. Students will need to keep masks on, even outside.
• Consider telling your child(ren) that it is ok to ask to come home if the day gets too tough.

• Review the social contract talk about what it means.
• Take time to explain how extra careful we all have to be in order to have the privilege of going to campus.

Talk about flexibility! Things will be different on campus, and things may also change. Prepare your students for the possibility of needing to stay home from school or the need to pivot to quarantine and remote learning.

As we look ahead to next week, we know that our children have a variety of emotions about returning to in-person learning. Some kids are so excited to be back that you will have to remind them not to hug their friends and teachers. Others are anxious about separating from those who have been their emotional rock for 6 months, or even scared of the COVID-19 virus itself. Most probably have multiple feelings, a state which reveals what truly makes us human. As parents and families, we are in the same boat, happy that kids will get an opportunity to come to school, but also nervous. Many of us question our decisions daily if not hourly.

What is most important is to acknowledge to yourself and your children that all of these are normal reactions to an abnormal time. As Lynne Lyons often says, the goal is not to try to eliminate or deny emotions or to run to fix things, but rather to recognize the emotions when they show up, acknowledge them and help our coping mechanisms kick in. Listen to emotions and accept them, even the ones that trouble them. Next, work with kids to find the mind-body strategies that work for them so that they can get their nervous system working for them instead of against them. Each person is different, but common techniques include belly breathing, meditation, progressive muscle relaxation, and physical activity. When everyone is in a more regulated state, the thinking brain comes back on-line, and you can talk through any concerns together.

Lynn Lyons is a wonderful resource. Check out her free podcast “flusterclux” (there is an episode on back to school and many other great topics) and her blog for lots of other resources.