March 12, 2020
Dear Parents:
This is the second email in as many weeks regarding the Coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak; the World Health Organization (WHO) has declared COVID-19 a global pandemic. Our experienced leadership remains calm, thorough, and systematic in sourcing information and making informed decisions with the safety of our students as our number one priority. The purpose of this email is to update you on our actions to date in response to this emerging public health concern. Our intent is to update you weekly unless changing circumstances require otherwise.
CONTINGENCY PLANNING
Our Risk Management Team continues its daily collaboration with colleagues in the independent and public-school communities, in addition to monitoring new reports from local, state, and federal agencies. We have developed a written plan that addresses multiple contingency scenarios, and we continue in our preparations to provide on-line learning to our students if a school closure ever becomes necessary. We are also making provisions for conducting traditional campus bound functions like payroll, billing, etcetera, remotely.
NEW COVID-19 PACS WEBPAGE
We have set up a new COVID-19 webpage on our school’s website under “Campus Life.” This webpage contains a repository of our ongoing correspondence with you relative to this topic, helpful local, state, and federal agency information, and several Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) and Answers. You can access our COVID-19 webpage
HERE
.
NEW TRAVEL RESTRICTIONS
To ensure the safety of our student body, we are taking additional actions consistent with federal, state, and county agencies’ guidelines. If you have any questions about the policies that follow, please contact our COVID-19 Coordinator, Mr. Kendall Eley, at
keley@princeave.org
or (678) 726-2307.
(1) Travel Ban. There is a 30-day travel ban from Europe as ordered by the president on March 11, 2020.
(2) Contact with Overseas Travelers. Any student who has come in contact with an individual that has recently traveled from
Italy
,
China
, or
South Korea
, must self-quarantine at home for 14 days (after the date of contact) before returning to school. Please notify the school by emailing
keley@princeave.org
.
(3) Travel by Cruise Ship. Consistent with State Department and CDC guidelines located
HERE
, students who travel by cruise ship, or those who come in contact with a family member who has traveled by cruise ship, must self-quarantine at home for 14 days (after the date of contact) before returning to school. This policy is also consistent with that issued by several public school systems to include
Oconee County
in which PACS resides. This policy will disrupt many spring break travel plans for which I am sorry; difficult decisions like this are often unpopular but they put students’ safety first.
(4) Domestic Travel and Class Trips. We are coordinating with our contract travel agencies now (fine arts trip to New York April 17-21 & middle school trips April 24-May 1); we will make a decision on domestic travel shortly. Your patience with that process is appreciated.
SCHOOL CLOSINGS
We are seeing an increase in school closings in and around the state of Georgia. As of yesterday, there have been temporary closings in Cobb, Floyd, and Fulton Counties and Valdosta City Schools. The University of Georgia has recalled all students studying in Europe, and Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama, is closing for three weeks as a precautionary measure (we have graduates at both these universities). I suspect we will see more college and university closures in the days and weeks to come.
TIPS FOR REDUCING EXPOSURE
We want to remind you of the
CDC’s general recommendations
to help prevent the spread of any respiratory virus (like cold or flu and including COVID-19) and ask that you join the faculty and staff in reinforcing with students the importance of the following actions:
· wash hands with soap for 20 seconds multiple times a day (both at home and school)
· sneeze or cough into the crook of your elbow or into a tissue that is thrown away
· routinely wipe down common use surfaces
· suspend the custom of handshaking and replace it with an “elbow bump.”
We have doubled the weekly disinfecting frequency of our buildings using Bioesque Disinfectant, which is 99.9 percent effective against the human Coronavirus, and we will continue to update you as this situation develops. On behalf of the faculty and staff, thank you for your patience and understanding as we continue to make decisions that put the safety of our students first.
