Reopening of Schools Cleveland County Schools Cleveland County - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Reopening of Schools

Cleveland County Schools

Cleveland County Schools’ mission is to provide Exceptional Educational Experiences every day to every student.

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What We Know

Reopening of Schools

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Reopening of Schools - What We Know.

COVID-19 has changed the way we look at everything. This global pandemic has pushed us into unchartered territory in every aspect of our lives. Education and the practice of school will be dramatically different for the 2020-2021 school year. With these challenges, Cleveland County Schools remains committed to providing the best educational experience possible for our students. Our school community is committed to providing this exceptional education while providing a safe teaching and learning environment for our students and staff. Together, TEAM CCS will partner with parents, families and community stakeholders to embrace all of the challenges and opportunities presented to best serve our students, schools and community.

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Reopening of Schools - What We Know

• The 2020-2021 School Year will be dramatically different.
• The health and safety of our students and staff will be our top priority.
• We have received guidance from the North Carolina Department of

Health and Human Services (NC DHHS), the North Carolina Department

• f Public Instruction (NCDPI) and the North Carolina State Board of

Education to lead our reopening process.

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Reopening of Schools - BOE Leadership

The Cleveland County Board of Education is focused on:

• Developing a “Reopening of Schools” plan that best meets the needs of our

students, staff, schools and community.

• Providing a healthy and safe environment for students and staff.
• Ensuring high quality in-person (face-to-face) and/or remote instruction.
• Facilitating community communication, public engagement and positive
• utreach.
• Providing stability and support for our students and staff.

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Reopening of Schools - District Leadership

Over the past several weeks, our school and district leaders have been hard at work preparing for the reopening process. During this time, TEAM CCS has been:

• Strategically aligning resources (financial, personnel, operational) to prepare

for reopening.

• Establishing work groups to address the multiple components of reopening.
• Collaborating with community partners through organized efforts such as our

Re-Entry Task Force.

• Communicating with peers across our region and state for planning purposes.
• Participating in state and local guidance and information sessions on

reopening planning.

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Timeline

Reopening of Schools

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Reopening of Schools : Timeline

June 8th - Strong Schools NC Public Health Toolkit (K-12) released. June 24th - NCDHHS updated its public health guidance July 1st - Governor updated school reopening information and delayed decision of reopening until later in July but directed schools to plan for all three scenarios. July 14th - The Governor’s Office determined that schools could reopen using Scenario B. Options given to local LEAs to open with Scenario C if that was best for their district. Encouraged LEAs to offer fully remote options for students.

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Reopening of Schools – Public Health Information

Plan Public Health Information Back to School Information A State COVID metrics are stable or improving Minimal social distancing required. All students attend school every day. In-person instruction for all students. B State COVID metrics have not stabilized and additional restrictions are necessary Social distancing required. Schools are limited to 50% capacity. Blended method of in-person (face-to- face) and remote instruction. C State COVID metrics worsen significantly and in-person instruction is not an option. Remote Learning only. No students will be able to access school facilities or transportation. Per SL 2020-3, district instruction provided remotely as stated in the district's Remote Learning Plan.

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Daily Operation of School – Scenario B

• Scheduling will become more challenging. In-person attendance will be limited to

approximately 50% capacity each day.

• Instruction will be a blended mix of in-person (face-to-face) and remote. Social Distancing

will be required to the extent possible.

• Face coverings will be required for ALL students.
• Face coverings will be required for staff.
• Health assessments will be conducted when students arrive at school in the morning.
• Schools will establish an isolation/sick room and a process for dismissing students that

become symptomatic at school.

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Daily Operation of School – Scenario B

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Transportation Maximum Bus Capacity is one (1) student per seat. Students living in the same house may sit together in the same seat. Social Distancing Social distancing is required. Social distancing needed in hallways, classrooms, cafeterias, etc. School occupancy at 50%. School Nutrition In-person meals for students attending school using modified serving

• ptions and drive-thru meals for those that are receiving remote

instruction that day. Health and Safety Focus on health assessments and temperature checks before school. Isolate students that exhibit symptoms during the school day.

Daily Operation of School – Scenario B

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Day of the Week Cohort A Cohort B Monday F2F Remote Tuesday F2F Remote Wednesday Remote Remote Thursday Remote F2F Friday Remote F2F

Reopening of Schools - Feedback

Cleveland County Schools is aware of the importance of stakeholder feedback. Several feedback options have been created in order to enhance the decisions made by school and district leaders.

• Return to School Intent Form for Students and Parents
• Return to School Intent Form for Staff
• Remote Learning Survey Data

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Reopening of Schools - Student Learning & The School Experience

Essential Questions for Student Learning that must be answered:

• What is the best educational experience for all students?
• What will that experience be like for students?
• How do we (TEAM CCS) provide the best learning experience for all

students?

• How do we combine the best experience for students with the optimal

environment for teachers and staff?

• What training and professional development opportunities are needed for

staff?

• What are expected outcomes, guidelines and measures of success?

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Reopening of Schools - Student Learning & the School Experience

• What are the best practices for remote learning? Blended learning? Mixed-

methods instruction?

• How do we increase access to instructional content for all students?
• How do we promote diverse course offerings including Advanced Placement

(AP), Career College Promise (CCP) and Career-Technical Education (CTE) in multiple settings?

• In what ways and in what areas must we expand our focus to best meet the

physical and social-emotional needs of students and staff?

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Daily Operation

Reopening of Schools

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Reopening of School - Daily Operation

• Create procedures for the arrival and dismissal of students to ensure social

distancing.

• Plan for student movement within the school to ensure social distancing.
• Revisit scheduling of essential school functions, such as special area classes

and classes that require student movement and interaction.

• Conduct emergency planning related to school safety and inclement weather.
• Configure classrooms and instructional space for social distancing.
• Plan and consider use of common areas for students and staff.

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Reopening of School - Daily Operation

Visitors on Campus

• Access to schools will be limited for non-essential visitors, volunteers and external

stakeholders Water Fountains

• Water fountains will not be available for use while in Phase A, B or C. Bottle fillers will be

available for use.

• Custodians should mark water fountains as “do not use.” Schools can determine how this

marking will best occur at their site. Consider use of a trash bag covering, tape or

• signage. Maintenance plans to disconnect water fountains if possible.

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Reopening of School - Daily Operation

Sanitizing Classrooms

• All staff will need to help with sanitizing classrooms once students return. Principals will

need to determine specific expectations of their custodians and teachers. In general, custodians will need to be accountable for school wide areas and other staff will need to assist in classroom sanitizing.

• Spray bottles with disinfectant and cloths will be provided by maintenance. Lead

custodians will need to make sure that staff have needed supplies. We are working on a short video to use with staff in August explaining safe use and appropriate storage of chemicals.

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Reopening of School - Daily Operation

Hand Sanitizer

• Hand sanitizer in pump bottles will be provided by maintenance for every teacher and

classroom.

• Hand sanitizer dispensers for large, high traffic areas like cafeteria, media center and

gym will be provided by maintenance. Custodians will handle the refilling of these dispensers.

• Maintenance is planning to mount these dispensers in the areas noted above at all

secondary schools. Elementary schools will be mounted as requested by the principal and lead custodian. In conversations with elementary principals up to this point, it seems that hand sanitizer in pump bottles in each classroom is more appropriate that wall mounts, but will be a school based decision.

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Reopening of School - Daily Operation

Signage & Hall Markings

• Signage templates will be provided by Central Services from NCDHHS &

NCDPI for school level printing related to hand washing, the 3 W’s, etc.

• Maintenance will provide floor stickers and signage for the front office lobby and
• ther public lobby areas. This signage will address 6 ft. social distancing,

symptomatic restrictions, temperature checks and face covering requirements.

• Schools will handle signage and marking throughout the building. This includes

marking floors in restrooms, locker rooms and hallways to indicate 6 ft. social distancing.

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Reopening of School - Daily Operation

Face Coverings

• Five (5) cloth masks will be provided for each student from the district level.
• A minimum of three (3) cloth masks will be provided for each staff member from

the district level.

• Individual schools and departments are encouraged to provide additional cloth

masks as needed. Staff members are allowed to use their own face coverings, including use of cloth masks, buffs and face shields.

• Maintenance will provide each school with a supply of disposable face masks

for use with visitors as needed.

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Reopening of School - Daily Operation

Sick Room

• Establish a dedicated space for symptomatic individuals that will not be used for
• ther purposes.
• Immediately isolate symptomatic individuals to the designated area at the

school, and send them home to isolate.

• Ensure symptomatic student remains under visual supervision of a staff

member who is at least 6 feet away.

• Due to these requirements, School Health Technician will be hired at each

school.

• Schools are responsible for designating a space and marking for social

distancing.

• If curtain dividers are needed, please enter work orders.

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Transportation

Reopening of Schools

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Reopening of School - Transportation

• Bus transportation must adhere to social distancing guidelines, therefore, bus

capacity will be significantly reduced.

• Under the current guidelines provided by NC DHHS, bus capacity is limited to
• ne (1) person per seat. Students who live in the same house can sit together

in the same seat.

• Face covering guidelines are the same as school expectations.
• Buses will be cleaned/sanitized after each route.
• Parents should not put children on the bus that exhibit any COVID symptoms.
• Health screenings and temperature checks will be required once students

arrive at school.

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Reopening of School - Transportation

• Concerns about transportation include potentially adding routes, drivers and

monitors.

• Necessity to add or amend routes throughout the school year.
• Potential to stagger arrival and dismissal times to meet the demands of social

distancing.

• We anticipate a significant increase in transportation expenses related to

personnel, cleaning and bus maintenance.

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School Nutrition

Reopening of Schools

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Reopening of School - School Nutrition

• Classroom spaces will need to be used to serve breakfast/lunch due to social

distancing recommendations.

• If the cafeteria space is used, student seating will need to be adjusted to

accommodate social distancing resulting in significantly less seating capacity. Additional cleaning will be necessary between class use of space.

• Significant changes will be necessary to safely serve students. Changes may

include prepackaged meals, elimination of self-serve, etc.

• Appropriate signage, markings and cleaning will be necessary for the safe and

successful implementation of our school nutrition program.

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Reopening of School - School Nutrition

• Scenario A: In-person meals will be served using a

modified serving plan.

• Scenario B: Both in-person meals and drive-thru meals

(for remote learners) will be available.

• Scenario C: Drive-thru meals will be available for all

students.

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Health and Safety Procedures

Reopening of Schools

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Health and Safety Procedures

• Schools must adhere to social distancing guidelines.
• The district will provide PPE to students and staff (See Daily Operation

information).

• The district and schools encourage hand-washing and appropriate safety

measures to the extent possible.

• The district will create short videos that emphasize appropriate safety practices.
• Schools will reinforce safety practices through ongoing education and training.
• Appropriate signage will be in place in all school facilities.

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Health and Safety Procedures

• The district will create a COVID response team to handle and coordinate

cleaning when a positive COVID case is identified.

• The district and schools will coordinate enhanced cleaning, disinfecting and

sanitizing of all school facilities and student areas.

• In addition, the district and schools will adjust workspaces, create physical

barriers when appropriate and restrict the use of common spaces to create healthy and safe spaces for students and staff.

• Access to schools will be limited for non-essential visitors, volunteers and

external stakeholders.

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Health and Safety Procedures

• Schools will develop procedures for daily health screenings and temperature

checks for students and staff.

• Measures will be put in place to protect individuals with increased health risks.
• Schools will establish procedures for handling students and staff that exhibit

COVID related symptoms. These procedures include creating a sick/isolation room, implementing a communication strategy for contacting parents and guardians, partnering with local health professionals.

• The district and schools will employ a ‘School Health Technician’ at each

school that will work with school administrators and the school nurses.

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Health and Safety Procedures

• In addition to the physical health and safety of our students and staff, the

district and schools recognize the importance of the mental health and social- emotional well-being of our students and staff.

• Guidance from our Student Services Department will be given to schools that

will address strategies to use to meet the mental health and social-emotional well-being needs in our district.

• Our district and schools will provide appropriate training and guidance to both

students and staff.

• Employee Assistance Program (EAP) is available to do sessions free of charge

to staff members and their immediate family.

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Health and Safety Procedures

• CCS is preparing guidance for schools on how to examine current IEPs and

504s to determine if changes or updates are needed and how to develop remote learning plans for these students.

• Teachers of students with disabilities will follow the district’s health and safety
• guidelines. Additional PPE, such as face shields, will be provided to

designated staff for instructional and safety purposes.

• Student Services Teams will support students identified as high risk for severe

illness due to COVID-19 to ensure that alternative learning environments are available to include remote learning and/or alternative assignments.

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Extracurricular Activities

Reopening of Schools

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Extracurricular Activities

• High School athletic workouts began in Cleveland County Schools on Monday, July 6th.

These workouts must follow the specific NCHSAA guidelines including social distancing, limiting the group size, limiting the workout times, temperature checks and health screenings and other safety protocols. Workouts are limited to high school Fall sports

• nly and must be conducted outdoors. Locker rooms are closed. On July 15th, the

NCHSAA announced that the Fall season would be postponed until at least September

• 1st. Workouts may continue.
• All other athletic workouts and middle school athletics have been postponed until further

notice.

• Other extra-curricular activities will be re-evaluated once additional guidance is received

from the appropriate state agencies regarding the reopening of school.

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Healthy and Safe Personnel and Staff

Reopening of Schools

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Healthy and Safe Personnel and Staff

In ALL situations, employees are directed to:

• Refrain from coming on-campus if they feel sick or if they have any COVID symptoms. (By COVID

symptoms, we mean: temperature of 100.4 or greater, congestion or runny nose, cough, fever or chills, headache, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, muscle pain, sore throat, new loss of taste or smell, fatigue, nausea or vomiting, diarrhea.)

• Wear face covering of mouth and nose in public areas. This includes situations where at least 6 ft. of

physical distance cannot be maintained or guaranteed.

• Consult with their primary physician or healthcare provider regarding any concerns they have related

to their personal health situation and COVID risk, and to follow their advice.

• Contact Kelley Adams with any questions related to leave options.
• Contact their immediate supervisor when they have been tested for COVID or in contact or exposed to

someone with COVID or being tested for COVID.

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Healthy and Safe Personnel and Staff

Reference Guide for Suspected, Presumptive or Confirmed cases of COVID- 19.

https://files.nc.gov/covid/PHT-ScreeningReferenceGuide_6.30.pdf

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Instructional Options

Reopening of Schools

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Reopening of School – Instructional Options

• Blended Model: In-Person or Face-to-Face Instruction (2

days per week) and Remote Instruction (3 days per week).

• Fully Remote Option: Student enrolled at his or her

school.

• Cleveland Innovation

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Reopening of School – Instructional Options

• Blended Model: No actions needed by parents or

students.

• Fully Remote Option: A Remote Instruction application

is required to sign up for this option. Available Monday, July 20th on website and at schools.

• Cleveland Innovation: www.clevelandinnovation.org

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Cleveland Innovation

Reopening of Schools

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Reopening of Schools – Cleveland Innovation

• In August, our district will launch Cleveland Innovation, a K-12 Virtual
• Academy. We are encouraging anyone interested in a fully virtual school

experience to visit www.clevelandinnovation.org for more information.

• Interested parents should register for virtual town halls on the school website.

For more information about this new school, please contact Dr. Anita Ware at afware@clevelandcountyschools.org or 704-476-8075.

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Conclusions

Reopening of Schools

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Reopening of School - Conclusions

• Providing high quality instruction in a healthy, safe environment is our TOP

priority.

• Cleveland County Schools’ reopening plan will adhere to all state and local

recommendations.

• The beginning of school will be drastically different than ever before. We all

will be presented with new challenges and opportunities.

• Changes to our CCS plan, as well as changes in state and local

recommendations for the reopening of school are probable. The circumstances surrounding a pandemic are fluid so it is important for us to be flexible and understanding during these uncertain times.

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Reopening of Schools

Cleveland County Schools