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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]We left DC last year and are now at a private in a different area that has thoughtfully and successfully opened to all grades. You all have every right to be pissed, and I would be too if I were in your shoes. Whatever schools your kids attend in DC know about my kids' school and the other big private across the country that have opened and are doing fine. I know our school was in communication with many of yours and I imagine you are very similarly situated in terms of money, space, and numbers of cases. The biggest difference I can see is the politics at your schools, although ours is most definitely not filled with Republicans so it's not like we're on the complete other end of the spectrum. In any event, I wish you all the best in getting your schools to reopen. We did DL for last year, obviously, and although we were very pleased with what our school did, even at its best it is no substitute for teaching kids in person.[/quote]

Glad your family has landed at a school that has been able to sucessfully re-open and deliver fully its educational product to your children. I have some questions that, if you wouldn't mind answering it would perhaps be helpful to guide DC Privates:

1) You say your kids are attending- are classes outdoor only or fully indoor with A/C on ?

2) Are numbers limited to 10 students per class, per the CDC requirements and are desks all facing front ?

3) Are your kids all being taught in person by the same highly skilled/ seniority faculty that taught all the same AP/ Honors classes pre-covid or did many of those coveted teachers take paid leave to protect their own health due to them having: HTN, Diabetes, Immune Supression, Lung Disease or being over age 65 ?

4) How transparently are covid  cases among housekeeping, security, kitchen staff, IT staff and Faculty being disclosed to school community and Board of Health ( not names of those testing positive of course, but case incidents ?

Or is this school you have found just opening its doors, pretending covid is a myth and keeping its faculty/ staff case numbers & resignations a secret from enrolled parents and all employees ?

[/quote]

PP here.

1) Classes are not fully outdoor although the school has purchased tents that have been erected all over campus to provide additional outside learning space. However, some classes are still held inside. The school did upgrade all the HVAC systems in order to improve the ventilation indoors.

2) The classes have more than 10 kids in them but each desk is spaced at least six feet away from the other desks. Our school facilities are huge and the classrooms previously had different areas dedicated to reading nooks, art stations, etc. With removing those, they were able to fit all the desks in, all facing the same, and maintain spacing. I don't see on the CDC website that is says you are supposed to limit class sizes to 10 - can you show me that?

3) One of my children has a new teacher this year but the school had been recruiting her for years and the teacher she is replacing announced her retirement last fall, so it didn't have anything to do with COVID. I am not aware of any other teachers that left.

4) The school is being very transparent about all the testing results. We knew that one student out of all the students, faculty, and staff that were tested before school started were positive, and we knew that that child was doing DL for 14 days before being tested again. (We didn't know the name of the child, just the results of the test and the response). The school has tested everyone every two weeks since school started (students, faculty, and staff), and there was one positive test in a student during the second round of testing. The entire school was notified of the positive result and the grade of the child who tested positive (not their name, obviously). Everyone was given the option to be tested again if they desired. Also, the state department of health was contacted and the school was engaging in contact tracing to determine if they needed to alert anyone else about this case.

The school is definitely not pretending that COVID doesn't exist. Parents have to wear masks to enter campus for drop off and pick up (even when in your car), no one is allowed to get out of your car (I had to take one of my children for a doctor's appointment totally unrelated to COVID and she was brought out to my car, I was not allowed to get out), and the campus is basically locked down (we have a guard house with gates at the only entrance so it's an easy thing to do). The school constantly sends out reminders for the symptoms that need to be checked daily, they do temperature checks for all students, faculty, and staff when they arrive and there are temperature sensors installed throughout the school. They are doing pooled testing in addition to the testing every other week, and are also testing the sewage on a regular basis.

I have been to the school for pick ups as well as during the day twice (once for my daughter's doctor's appointment and once to pick up something from the bookstore, which was also brought to my car), and I have witnessed the kids who were outside during those times. The teachers were militant about keeping the kids apart, the kids were always masked, even when playing on the basketball court or during PE, and I did not see any other parents out of their cars. I honestly don't know what else they could have done or could be doing.[/quote]

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