Health and Safety Plan - Scranton Preparatory School - Scranton ...
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Health and Safety Plan
Scranton Preparatory School
AMDG Last Revised – 12/14/2021
Plan for 2021-2022 School Year
Scranton Preparatory School (Prep) is mindful that as long as there are cases of COVID-19 in the
community, there are no strategies that can completely eliminate transmission risk within a school
population. The goal is to keep transmission as low as possible to safely continue school activities. All
school decisions and plans are and will be informed by guidance from the Center for Disease Control
and Prevention (CDC), The Pennsylvania Department of Health (DOH), the Pennsylvania Department of
Education (PDE), The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), and the Children’s Hospital of
Philadelphia (CHOP) PolicyLab.
Prep will regularly reevaluate its plan based on recommendations and mandates of the Governor’s
Office, the Pennsylvania Department of Education, the Pennsylvania Department of Health, and the
CDC. Updates to the plan will be reposted to the school’s website and communicated to school
constituent groups (families, students, and staff).
Type of School Model
Scranton Prep will return to full classes and in-person learning for all students.
Since Prep students come from multiple counties (Lackawanna, Luzerne, Monroe, Wayne, Wyoming,
Pike, and Susquehanna), Prep will pay close attention to the overall statistics for its full student
population in determining the best model at any given time.
Prep is aware that, depending upon the public health conditions in any county within the
Commonwealth, there could be additional actions, orders, or guidance provided by the Pennsylvania
Department of Education (PDE) and/or the Pennsylvania Department of Health (DOH) which would
influence or dictate a change in plan, however, we are hopeful that we will be able to maintain full in-
person classes all year.
Due to Prep’s success with a fully virtual learning platform, we are confident that in the unlikely case
we are required to make a temporary quick transition to virtual learning, we will be able to do so
seamlessly. Communications about any change in learning models will be handled via email, Prep App,
and robocalls.
Masks and Face Coverings
All faculty, staff, and students are required to wear face coverings while indoors. In the dining hall,
students may remove their masks briefly while actively eating. Students are expected to wear a face
mask when they have finished eating or if they are only consuming a beverage.
2Plan for 2021-2022 School Year
As per the CDC order, masks must be worn on buses.
In addition, according to the CDC, the school “may consider requiring the wearing of masks in crowded
outdoor settings and for activities with close contact with others who are not fully vaccinated.”
Students and staff will provide their own face coverings. Face coverings should be in line with
Scranton Prep Dress Code standards. All face coverings must be made of two layers of fabric, worn
over the nose and mouth, and should either be cleaned daily, if reusable, or thrown away and replaced
with another new covering, if disposable. Face shields are allowable as an additional layer of
protection if desired.
Cleaning Practices/Hand Sanitizing
From the CDC: “Keeping your hands clean is one of the best ways to protect yourself and others from
getting sick.” Hand sanitizer stations are installed in all learning spaces and placed throughout the
building. Students are encouraged to carry their own hand sanitizer, as well, to maximize opportunities
for hand sanitizing. Disinfecting wipes will also be available in all spaces.
The maintenance team will do a thorough cleaning and disinfecting of all spaces and surfaces each
evening, as per CDC Requirements. Restrooms will be cleaned regularly by maintenance staff, as per
CDC requirements – including, but not limited to sinks, sink handles, toilet handles, urinal handles, door
handles, and sink surfaces. Drinking fountains will not be used; touchless filtered water fillers are
permitted and will be cleaned by maintenance regularly, as per CDC Requirements.
Social Distancing Measures
Classrooms
Desks in all classrooms have been spaced apart according to CDC recommendations so that students
are seated at least three feet apart from each other.
Students will have an assigned seat for every class and must always sit in that seat. Seating charts will
be submitted to the Principal’s Office for our records in the event that contact tracing is required. No
student identities will be shared with the wider Prep community.
Dining Hall
Seating in the dining hall is limited to four students per table, evenly spaced. Here, too, daily records
of seating charts will be kept for contact tracing.
Bathrooms
There are capacity limits for all bathrooms. Hall Monitors will ask for a student’s phone and ID before
allowing that student to enter a bathroom. This will help us be sure of the total number of occupants
in the bathroom and will allow us to keep a record of who used which bathroom when and with whom
for any potential or necessary contact tracing. Students should be sure to practice vigilant hand
washing, mask wearing, and social distancing while in the bathrooms.
Elevators
Elevator use will only be reserved for the most necessary student use.
3Plan for 2021-2022 School Year
Common Areas
There is socially-distanced seating available in the Student Commons for the Juniors and Seniors, and
in the Bellarmine Lobby silent study area, and Computer Drop-In Lab for all students.
Movement within the Building
Students must wear a face covering during hallway travel and should do their best to maintain proper
social distance. It is important to note that hallway travel time will be less than 15 minutes, which is
below the CDC threshold for sustained contact. Students should avoid loitering near lockers or in the
hallways and instead report to their classroom and/or homeroom as soon as they can. In some
instances, directional travel might be indicated by signage and should be followed.
Arrival to School
Students should plan on arriving between 7:30 AM and 8:10 AM. Students should not loiter or gather,
but rather should report to their homerooms starting at 7:45. Students arriving between 7:30 and 7:45
should use the seating in the Student Commons or the Dining Hall until their homeroom is open.
Busing
As per the CDC order, all students must wear a mask while traveling on public and school
transportation.
Dress Code
Since students will have use of a locker this year, all the components of the Prep Dress Code are in
effect.
To eliminate the need for students to use the athletic locker rooms to change for PE, students will wear
appropriate PE clothes to school on the day of the cycle when he or she will meet for PE class. The
failure to present oneself in an appropriate choice of PE clothes could result in a student being sent
home for the day.
Activities
In general, afterschool in-person club meetings are encouraged and all health and safety protocols for
the school day will apply to these meetings. All moderators will need to submit seating charts after a
club meeting or practice to help with potential contact tracing.
Athletics
Prep is happy that we will be able to run our athletic programs with much less mitigation than last
year. That said, Prep will continue to evaluate the recommendations of the PDE, DOH, the Governor,
and the PIAA as it makes its own decisions about the health and safety of its athletes.
Any athletic programs that are permitted to run will need to follow the Prep Athletic Health Plan.
If a member of a team tests positive for COVID-19, every member of the team and coaching staff will
be considered close contacts. Any non-vaccinated individuals and any symptomatic fully-vaccinated
4Plan for 2021-2022 School Year
individuals will quarantine as per this plan and all vaccinated individuals will need to follow the testing
protocol and timeline in this plan.
Student Service Opportunities and Retreats
Prep will continue to provide opportunities for students to participate in retreat and service
opportunities. That said, for each retreat and service opportunity a plan for health and safety must be
submitted to the Principal and the grade level Service Director, as well as to the Executive Leadership
Team for approval.
Self-Health Checks/Attendance
Prep will no longer utilize the Ruvna Self-Health Check app. That said, it is essential that families trust
and acknowledge the fact that anyone coming to school or to school activities while ill puts everyone at
Prep and all of their loved ones at risk. For that reason, we implore you to please stay home when
sick. The plan we have in place only works if everyone follows this logic. In addition, we can only
mitigate community spread by following this practice.
In addition, to further support the health of the community we ask you to please contact Mrs.
Zeleniak at nurse@scrantonprep.org immediately if:
• Your Prep child or someone else in your household has tested for COVID-19 and is awaiting
test results;
• Your Prep child or someone in your household has tested positive for COVID-19;
• Your Prep child has been in close contact with someone outside of your household who has
tested for COVID-19 and is awaiting test results;
• Your Prep child has been in close contact with someone outside of your household who has
tested positive for COVID-19.
To further support our desire for students to stay home when ill or when needing to quarantine, for
this year, we have amended the attendance requirement for exemptions from the final exam. Students
who have not missed more than seven (7) days of class in the second semester will be eligible for
exemption from final exams, depending on their meeting the grade requirements. Days absent due to
DOH mandated quarantine will not count towards this tally for exemption.
Please see Prep’s Remote Instruction Guidelines and Notes 2021-2022 for information about how those
in quarantine can be approved to participate in classes remotely.
Responding to Illness
Any student or staff member who feels ill should not come to school or any school activities.
If a student feels ill after arriving to school, he or she should report to the nurse who will assess the
situation and utilize an isolation room if needed. The nurse will call a parent or guardian who will need
to pick up his or her child within 30 minutes of the call. The family should follow-up with the family’s
primary healthcare provider. The isolation room will be thoroughly cleaned and disinfected before
being used again.
5Plan for 2021-2022 School Year
CASES OF COVID-19 (POSITIVE INDIVIDUALS)
If you have tested positive for COVID-19, and you have symptoms, you can return to
school after:
• At least 10 days since symptoms first appeared and
• At least 24 hours with no fever without fever-reducing medication and
• Symptoms have improved
If you had severe illness from COVID-19 (you were admitted to a hospital and needed oxygen), your
healthcare provider may recommend that you stay in isolation for longer than 10 days after your
symptoms first appeared (possibly up to 20 days) and you may need to finish your period of isolation
at home.
If you have tested positive for COVID-19 and you have had no symptoms and if you
continue to have no symptoms, you can be with others after:
• 10 days have passed since the date you had your positive test
All documentation must be sent to school before returning to school. This should be sent to the school
nurse at nurse@scrantonprep.org.
If you develop symptoms after testing positive, follow the guidance above for “If you have tested
positive for COVID-19, and you have symptoms.”
DOH will assist the school with risk assessment, isolation and quarantine recommendations, and other
infection control recommendations. Prep will take every measure to maintain the confidentiality of the
affected individual. Prep reports numbers of cases and close contacts to the DOH weekly and we
maintain regular communication with our local DOH representative as we evaluate each case.
Clearance to return to school after testing positive is required. Any required documentation should be
submitted to and confirmed receipt of by the school nurse before a student returns to school.
CLOSE CONTACTS (EXPOSURE)
A close contact (exposure) now takes on two different forms:
1) In a classroom setting where both students* are masked - someone who is inside of three feet
from another student who tests positive for COVID-19 for 15 or more minutes.
*This exception does not apply to teachers, staff, or other adults in the indoor classroom
setting.
2) In a non-classroom setting, or when one or more party is unmasked in a classroom – someone
who is inside of six feet from an individual who tests positive for COVID-19 for 15 or more
minutes.
6Plan for 2021-2022 School Year
If you are the close contact of someone who tests positive for COVID-19, and that person
does NOT live with you:
• If you are unvaccinated:
o You must get tested immediately and if that test is negative, you must test a second
time 5 -7 days from the exposure.
o This test must be a PCR test from a testing facility that will provide a paper document;
home tests are not acceptable.
o You must quarantine for 10 days from the date of the last close contact.
o You must wear a mask indoors in public for 14 days.
• If you are vaccinated:
o You do not need to quarantine;
o You must get tested 5-7 days after the exposure (even without symptoms).
o This test must be from a testing facility that will provide a paper document; home tests
are not acceptable.
o You must wear a mask indoors in public for 14 days following the exposure or until
Prep’s nurse confirms the receipt of a negative test result within the 5-7 day timeframe.
If you are the close contact of someone who tests positive for COVID-19, and that person
DOES live with you:
• If you are unvaccinated:
o You should quarantine along with that individual while he/she is in isolation (10 days).
o You should then quarantine for another 10 days upon completion of that individual’s
isolation. This would result in a 20-day quarantine period.
o In addition, you should test immediately.
o If the result is negative, then you should test again 5-7 days from the onset of
symptoms of the positive individual.
o You will need to test a third time 5 -7 days after the completion of the isolation period of
the affected house-hold member.
o These tests must all be PCR tests from a testing facility that will provide a paper
document; home tests are not acceptable.
o You should wear a mask indoors during the entirety of the household member’s isolation
period and for another 14 days indoors.
• If you are vaccinated:
o You do not need to quarantine
o However, you must get tested 5-7 days after the household member’s first signs of
symptoms or positive test, whichever is earlier.
o In addition, you must test again 5-7 days after the completion of the isolation period of
the affected house-hold member.
o You must wear a mask indoors in public during the entirety of the household member’s
isolation period and for 14 days following the isolation period or until Prep’s nurse
confirms receipt of a negative test result within the 5 -7 day time frame.
When an individual student is identified as a close contact of more than one positive case, he or she
will need to follow our testing protocols for each unique exposure.
7Plan for 2021-2022 School Year
A failure to test or to submit a test may result in the student not being allowed to attend school.
The school reserves the right to alter any part of the plan at any time as conditions and
mandates change.
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