Dear Great Hearts Parents,
At Great Hearts, we have been closely monitoring the news, planning for contingencies and interacting with experts on the coronavirus as I am sure many of you are as well. While the general risks in the U.S. remain low, before the start of school vacation breaks I want you to know that we are taking several precautionary measures.
- We are encouraging careful hygiene and increasing the daily deep cleaning and disinfecting of our buildings;
- Limiting travel of office staff;
- Continually informing ourselves of best practices related to this out break, and
- Asking all school staff to tell us if they are going out of state over vacation.
We invite families with out-of-state travel plans over spring break to share that information with us as well. A voluntary survey is provided for this purpose. If you are traveling, please click
here to complete the form.
We will only use this information confidentially to match vacation travel with any news about the course of the virus over the next two to three weeks. This information can be helpful in the event we have to deal with any specific cases. It is a precaution that could assist us in the future and is in no way to be used for any other purpose. As a reminder, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has published
guidance regarding travel.
According to the CDC, if you or your child(ren) develop a fever and symptoms of respiratory illness, such as cough or difficulty breathing, and have been in close contact with a person known to have COVID-19, or if you live in or happen to travel to an area with ongoing spread, please inform your healthcare professional as well as your school nurse. The nurse will work with your healthcare professional and public health department to determine if any testing is needed.
In the event an outbreak would touch us, we would follow the direction of the health departments. We collaborate today on planning. We are working through scenarios and related possible actions such as relaxing attendance policies during a quarantine, providing assignments remotely, shifting our office functions to locations not affected and extending leave to employees. Communication with our parents and faculty is a key component of our planning.
Families would receive regular updates about any steps we would to take to protect our school communities. Our number one priority is our students, you their parents and our teachers and staff. We want you to know that we are working diligently to be the most prepared, most compassionate and most effective we can be in any situation.
Moreover, please take good care of yourself. You model the measures we ask of your children. Thank you!
Respectfully,
Wade Dyke
CEO, Great Hearts America
