August 21, 2020
Dear Ranney Community,
This Reopening Roundup will focus on our policies related to quarantining in the event that someone in our community tests positive for COVID-19. This communication also provides additional answers to community questions regarding masks and lunch service. As we release new information each week, we are constantly updating the website, so please visit www.ranneyschool.org/covid-19. for the latest and most complete information.
As a school, we are working tirelessly to plan for a safe opening and implement a hierarchy of controls and policies to keep our community safe throughout the school year. As we approach the first day of school on September 8, we must ask each of you to contemplate the social contract into which you are entering when you make the decision to send your child(ren) to school to learn in-person. We will have to return with a collective sense of shared responsibility for other members of the community. We must understand that our individual actions on and off campus will affect the health and well-being of our friends, peers, teachers, and all of their families. Of course, we will ask you and your child(ren) to comply with the policies outlined in our Reopening Plan. We must also ask that you continue to commit to reducing your family's risk of exposure in your life beyond Hope Road. This means social distancing, wearing masks, avoiding crowds, and meticulous hygiene. We thank you for committing to play your part to keep our community safe and healthy.
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Where will your children learn?
Complete myRanney and Car Tag forms by August 26.
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"What happens if a student or faculty member tests positive for COVID--19?"
No matter how well we execute our Reopening Plan, and no matter how careful each of us are in our daily lives, there remains the possibility that a member of our community could test positive for COVID-19. To prepare for this possibility, we have prepared a detailed Quarantine Policy in collaboration with Ranney’s Medical Advisory Board and Board of Trustees. This Quarantine Policy was informed by administrator participation in COVID-19 Case Response and Contact Tracing training, as well as close review of CDC, NJ Department of Health and Monmouth County Department of Health guidelines regarding safe school opening.
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If a student or faculty member tests positive for COVID-19, the first critical step is that the family or faculty/staff member must notify the Ranney Health Office, their Division Head, or supervisor immediately. Timely communication about this matter is imperative as the effectiveness of contract tracing is dependent on the ability to quarantine individuals who may have been exposed to the person with a confirmed case of COVID-19 before it is possible for the potentially exposed individuals to become contagious and continue the spread. If we learn of a COVID-positive case in our community, we will immediately call our contact at the Monmouth County Department of Health and begin contact tracing. We have shared our Quarantine Policy with the Monmouth County Department of Health and they have assured us that we are not alone. They are significantly expanding their contact tracing team and will be prepared to partner with us to keep our community safe. To be sure we are also prepared to act quickly and take all of the appropriate precautions, Ranney's Health Office team, as well as a group of administrators, are being trained as contact tracers.
Thanks to our small class sizes and plans to carefully track cohorts, contact tracing will be relatively straight-forward. Individuals with the highest risk of potential exposure are those defined by the CDC as "close contacts", or those who have been within 6 feet of the COVID-19 positive case for more than 15 minutes. Strict adherence to social distancing guidelines combined with the mandatory use of masks will drastically reduce the number of individuals that might be deemed "close contacts" of any COVID-positive case while on campus. "Proximate contacts" are those who have considerably less, but still some risk of exposure. These individuals would have been socially distanced from the COVID-19 case, but in the same room for an hour or more. In an abundance of caution, we will plan to require both close and proximate contacts of any COVID-positive case to quarantine for 14 days. From a practical standpoint, this means that if a faculty member were to test positive for COVID-19, we would quarantine all of their classes and activities for 14 days in addition to any other faculty or staff member who might fit the definition of a close or proximate contact. Other considerations include the following:
- While quarantined without symptoms, we will expect students to participate in distance learning.
- Quarantined faculty would, of course, be able to teach from home if healthy and able to do so.
- We will strongly recommend that community members identified as "contacts" and required to quarantine get a PCR/molecular test for COVID-19 immediately, and again at day 10. While the cohort will still have to quarantine for the full 14-day period (even if the test results come back negative), testing will rule out individuals as potential asymptomatic carriers.
- We defer to Department of Health guidance as to whether siblings or entire classes should be required to quarantine.
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The Quarantine Policy includes many more details including policies related to community members exhibiting potential symptoms of COVID-19, more details regarding return to campus for individuals who are quarantined or in isolation (due to a positive COVID-19 test result), and travel-related quarantine protocols.
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Families who repeatedly violate the Sick Policy by sending their children to school when they are sick, or who fail to comply with any of the school’s policies related to health and safety, will be required to keep their children home to learn virtually for the remainder of the school year.
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We will soon transition the Reopening Task Force to become a COVID Response Team comprised of leadership, Trustees, members of the Medical Advisory Board, the Health Office, the Operations Team, and faculty representatives. This Team will continuously monitor COVID-related metrics in New Jersey to proactively monitor considerations regarding keeping campus open, Monmouth County and surrounding counties. We invite you to monitor the NJ COVID-19 Information Hub. We will work closely with the Monmouth County Department of Health to ensure the health of our community.
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Your partnership is absolutely critical to keeping our community safe. |
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In each Reopening Roundup, we will continue to address questions from the Reopening Survey. |
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What circumstances will cause Ranney to close campus again?
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How will Lunch work this year?
Our lunch partner, FLIK, is re-imaging lunch delivery so lunches are pre-ordered and individually prepared rather than served buffet-style in the dining hall. Parents will be able to setup an online account with FLIK to order lunches in advance. Students will be given both cold and hot lunch options. The typical daily menu will include eight choices (one hot entree, one vegetarian hot entree, one salad with protein, a vegetarian salad, three cold sandwiches / wraps, and a bagel option). In the first two weeks of school, FLIK will only provide cold options and will add hot options thereafter. Cold boxed Lunches will include a fresh fruit cup & a side salad (pasta or grain). Hot lunches will include one or two sides depending on the entrée of the day. Chips, dessert and bottled water will be available as well.
Lower School lunches will be delivered to homeroom classrooms. Middle and Upper School students will pick up their boxed lunches at designated pick up points in waves. Students will be allowed to eat in small groups, ideally outdoors or in socially distanced larger spaces on campus. Each division will assign faculty and administrators to monitor lunchtime.
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Can students wear neck gators, bandanas, or masks with valves?
A recent Duke Study evaluated the efficacy of a range of face masks in filtering expelled droplets during speech. Neck gators and bandanas were found to be wholly ineffective. CDC guidelines stipulate that masks with exhalation valves or vents do not prevent the person wearing the mask from spreading COVID-19 to others. Therefore students may not wear neck gators, bandanas, or masks with valves. We also require that masks do not feature inappropriate language or images.
The partnership between home and school has never been more critical to the health and safety of our community. With the ability to learn virtually, students have the option to keep up with their studies even when feeling under the weather. Making the choice to keep your child(ren) home when they are sick is critical to keeping our community healthy. Thank you for your continued partnership, flexibility and patience.
Sincerely,
Dr. John Griffith, Head of School
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