Updated 1/28/2021
Close Contact (AKA Exposure) and Quarantining
- Your child may not attend school if anyone in the household has had close contact with (exposure to) someone who has tested positive for COVID-19.
- If anyone in the household had close contact with someone who has tested positive for COVID-19, the child must quarantine at home for:
- 14 days if they are in the infant or toddler classroom
- 10 days without a test if they are in Children’s House or elementary classrooms
- 7 days if a negative test result is received (test must occur on day 5 or later)
- Per guidance from the CDC, after stopping quarantine:
- Watch for symptoms until 14 days after close contact (exposure).
- If symptoms present, immediately self-isolate and contact your local public health authority or healthcare provider.
- Wear a mask, stay at least 6 feet from others, wash their hands, avoid crowds, and take other steps to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Positive Case in the Household
- Parents must report a positive COVID-19 diagnosis of an enrolled student or family member to CMS.
- Children in families with a positive case in the household may return to school:
- 14 days after the last day of close contact (exposure) to the sick family member (in other words, 14 days from when the sick family member began their isolation)
- If the child does not develop symptoms at first but some do develop during the 14-day quarantine, the child can return to school:
- after 10 days of home isolation from the day the symptoms began, AND
- be symptom free 48 hours before returning.
- Parents, Faculty and Staff will be notified, through email and possibly phone calls, in the event we have a positive case of COVID-19 in school. CMS will follow recommendations from the Virginia Health Department. This might mean closing certain classrooms or the entire school for a two-week period (or longer).
Travel
- Please refer to the following link for CDC guidelines for travel Travel During COVID-19 | CDC
- Those families considering travel will:
- read and are encouraged to adhere to the CDC guidelines for travel.
- acknowledge that teachers will not prepare work ahead of time for their child(ren), and that their children will need to make up missed work upon their return to school. Work prepared ahead of time is reserved for those students who are quarantining due to positive case or exposure to COVID-19, per CMS COVID-19 protocol.
Masks
- Children ages 3 and older must come to school with three clean masks every day.
Sanitizing
CMS Hygiene Practices and Sanitizing Protocol
- Children are expected to wash their hands upon entering the classroom, before and after eating and using the bathroom.
- Children will be asked to wash their hands at other times during the day or if they touch their mouth or nose.
- Depending on the age to the child, the teacher might supervise the children’s use of hand sanitizer.
- Please do not send hand sanitizer in your child’s school bag. The Office of Health and Safety does not allow it unless under the guidance of an adult.
- All classrooms are sanitized a minimum of twice daily. This includes all furniture, shelving, and materials.
- Each classroom and all common spaces in the school have designated staff assigned to sanitize and said staff must sign off on a daily sanitizing checklist.
CMS COVID-19 Mitigation
CMS Distancing Protocol
- Each child (aged 3 years and up) will be assigned their own workspace and their own work mats (sent home on Fridays to be laundered and returned on Monday).
- Plexiglass dividers are in place for larger classroom tables.
- CMS acknowledges that distancing is difficult and unnatural for young children.
- CMS approaches COVID-19 mitigation from a holistic view, to include social/emotional as well as physical well-being of the children.
CMS Temperature Checks
- Continuing temp checks at arrival and at least once in classrooms throughout the day
- If your child develops a fever of 100 degrees F or higher, you will be called to pick them up and they may not return until fever free for 24 hours
Other Mitigation Strategies
- Handwashing
- Children are expected to wash their hands upon entering the classroom, before and after eating, and after using the bathroom.
- Children will be asked to wash their hands at other times during the day or if they touch their mouth or nose.
- Sanitizer
- Depending on the age to the child, the teacher may supervise the children’s use of hand sanitizer.
- CMS will increase hand sanitizer availability
- Each classroom has an Air Doctor (infant and toddler rooms have air purifiers) that remain on.
- When weather is cool, windows are opened to allow fresh air into rooms.
- Closed Drinking fountains – Water bottle refill stations are open
- Keeping classrooms separated –specialty activities separated
