COVID, COVID, COVID

We realize getting emails about positive cases of COVID can produce anxious thoughts. This is understandable. The same thing happens when emails go out about lice, we all admit they make us start itching! We want to highlight that there have been five emails total that have had five students test positive for COVID-19 (two students in one family), and one staff member test positive. To date there is not a single case of student to student or student to staff transmission at MCS. These six cases have mandated quarantining 300 students and staff. 

The procedures in place are inconvenient but they are working. As we are quickly approaching Christmas we recognize people's desire to see family. One student testing positive requires their entire cohort to quarantine. Please minimize exposure. Every positive case has come through exposure outside of the school but has had great impact on families from school; it has been especially difficulty for single parent and double income households. Please be considerate of the upcoming holiday and use safe practices so that our families and staff can enjoy their Christmas break. 

PLEASE send your child to school with a face covering AND place extra in their backpack. Please make sure they have a refillable water bottle. This week alone I had to give 150 masks to students who did not have one. I gave out 135 water bottles. This is an expense for MCS that should be avoidable and could be better spent on our kid's educational enhancements.

Finally, there have been a couple of questions about how lunch and recess work. Kids eat distanced within their cohorts only. At recess if they are on a rotation through certain zones by grade level, they may remove their masks only if they are playing in a socially distanced manner. For example, gaga ball requires mask. If talking or playing games where social distancing is not maintained, masks must be in place. Below is a snapshot of a lunch table that shows the "X" marks are the only areas where they are permitted to sit. The second image is the playground zones which are on a weekly rotation schedule. As outlined in our reopening plan, all playground equipment and tables are sanitized between uses.