UPDATED JULY 31: Please see our weekly re-opening community information bulletin here. The state directives for school re-opening, released by Governor Newsom on July 17th, tie in-person learning to local disease metrics, keeping schools virtual in counties with high daily positive COVID rates. Manzanita School continues to direct our attention to supporting safe, in-person instruction, while also refining our highly successful virtual learning program, Manzanita Bridge. We are presently applying for a state waiver to open in-person learning for grades 3 through 6.
(This following introduction to Manzanita’s Re-Opening Plan is a transcription of Dr. Paul’s video above. Please scroll down for further details of the Re-Opening plan in a series of slides)
Greetings Manzanita Parents,
We are excited to share with you our plans for returning to campus on August 20th, just five weeks from next Thursday.
We recognize how tenuous this present moment has become for all of us, and we are grateful to offer you these specific plans for our re-opening. We are confident that these plans reflect and embody the best practices for safety in an educational setting, during the time of pandemic.
Over the past weeks, we have met almost daily to review public health documents, epidemiological research, and the re-opening plans of our peer schools. We have weighed many options, and evaluated numerous contingencies. We have consulted with experts, and participated in workshops. We have carefully read every response to the parent surveys which we sent you last month.
The slides below, that follow my introductory message here, will provide many more details. We invite you to read them carefully. We will be offering at least two “question and answer” sessions for parents via ZOOM, and will provide you the dates for those sessions soon.
The world’s scientists have learned a great deal about COVID-19 since the global pandemic was declared over four months ago. A search of Google Scholar brings up 89,000 articles with COVID-19 in the title, and MIT has recorded over 20,000 academic papers written about this disease. One particular area concerns transmission of the virus. Epidemiologists and health researchers tell us with near unanimity that catching this disease in the open air is very rare. This is especially true of asymptomatic disease spread which happens largely through breathed aerosols. These aerosols carry a much smaller viral load than the droplets of someone who is coughing. Well ventilated spaces dissipate the aerosols quickly. When outside, aerosols are diluted in short order by moving air, and pose very low threat of contagion.
In a study of over 7,300 identified cases of COVID-19 for which there was an adequate description of the mode of transmission, only one case was contracted outdoors. If you catch COVID-19, and I hope you never do, there is only a one in 7000 chance it will be in an outdoor setting, according to this study. This is important information.
As the heart of our re-opening plan, Manzanita will leverage the expansive and beautiful Big Rock campus as our living classroom. We will conduct all of our classes out-of-doors where students will again experience a robust academic and embodied learning. We are diligently preparing outside spaces across the campus to support this open-air learning.
Through daily monitoring and reporting of symptoms associated with COVID-19, we will restrict access to the Manzanita campus to healthy and asymptomatic students and staff. We will maintain safe distancing, and where appropriate and necessary, we will wear face masks or shields.
There is an additional and vital measure that will further ensure our collective safety and health; Manzanita is excited to introduce a new structure for the grouping of students, utilizing small and dispersed pods of students and staff, located in diverse areas on our expansive campus. These pods will include from 9 to 12 students, and two MNZ teachers. The pods will function with physical seclusion and considerable instructional autonomy. Each group will have access to their own mini-campuses on the Big Rock property, with a fully functional outdoor classroom, nearby bathrooms and hand-washing stations, and opportunities for both academic and embodied learning. This pod structure is made possible by our robust staff and expansive campus. And it will protect students and staff from risk of COVID exposure by substantially reducing the total number of other people with whom they interact on a daily basis. Pods will not have contact with each other while on campus.
However, to support a feeling of campus-wide culture, and to build in shared cross-grade-level experiences allowing students to safely visit with others not in their pod, we will operate the school remotely for one day each week. Every Wednesday, Manzanita Bridge Virtual School will take place from the safety of students and teachers’ homes. During these Bridge days, we will hold assemblies, office hours, and cross-grade-level breakout groups. These are the components of our digital experience which we found especially connective and successful while in quarantine last Spring. In-person education will happen on the Big Rock Campus every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday, for full school days. Other details of our scheduling can be found below.
It has been four weeks since school let out, and since we held our last assembly for Manzanita Bridge. Since then, the headlines have changed many times over. We are very mindful of the uncertainty in these times.
We have made concrete plans for re-opening and for running our beloved school, and if necessary, we will change them with care and with consideration. We feel confident in our ability to offer a safe and in-person educational program for our Manzanita students this fall, while also being responsive, flexible, and realistic. We thank you all for joining us in this important work.
We are excited to see you all again on August 20th.
—Dr. Paul Astin, Head of School
References
Hua Qian, and others. Indoor transmission of SARS-CoV-2, April 7, 2020.
Wilson, Kea. Chinese Study Finds Outdoor Activities Safe From COVID, May 15, 2020.
Bronstein, Melissa. Does Coronavirus Spread Outside? May 29, 2020.
Nishiura, Hiroshi, and others. Closed environments facilitate secondary transmission of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). February, 28, 2020.
Leclerc, Quentin, and others. What settings have been linked to SARS-CoV-2 transmission clusters? June 5, 2020.
What follows are 16 slides containing details of Manzanita’s Re-Opening Plans for this Fall.
(Please scroll down further to read just the narrative text of these slides).
To download a pdf of these Re-Opening Slides, please click here.
PLEASE SEE BELOW FOR A TEXT-ONLY VERSION OF THE ABOVE SLIDE DECK ON MNZ’S RE-OPENING
MNZ Foundations for Re-Opening
Health and Safety
Maximum reduction of exposure to and spread of COVID in MNZ school/community, providing families and students with a feeling of safety and security at school by implementing stringent health precautions (hand washing, adult mask wearing, social distancing, and temp and health checks, frequent disinfecting)
Rigorous Academic and Embodied Learning
Ensure continuity and stability in academic learning for our students through the use of pod-isolated outdoor classrooms, embodied instruction on our 21-acre campus and online virtual platforms.
MNZ Bridge
Offer a safe, virtual space for students to connect and learn in cross-grade level groupings and with a variety of staff. Prepare students for online readiness while offering continuity of virtual learning (in case of necessary short or long term quarantines).
Staff Support
Keep staff safe by utilizing PPE (masks and shields), practicing social distancing, and providing relevant professional development in order to support best teaching practices during this pandemic.
Community Connection
Maintain community connections and strong relationships to self, others, and the natural world.
Proactive Planning and Response
Manzanita is committed to staying educated on the most current safety protocols and epidemiological reports. We are actively preparing contingency plans that match the most up-to-date safety suggestions.
Health and Safety
Decrease COVID-19 from entering campus
Number of students entering campus at the same time will be limited by introducing staggered arrival (and departure) times. Start times will range from 8 - 8:30am and pickup from 3 - 3:30pm.
Families and staff are strongly discouraged from sharing carpools to and from school. If you must carpool we strongly encourage the use of face masks in the car.
Daily student temperature and health screening. Students and staff cannot enter campus if temperature is 100℉ (38℃) or higher, or if they show symptoms from the daily health screening questionnaire.
Staff will wear masks or face shields at all times when interacting with students or moving about the campus.
If a child or staff member is sent home because of symptoms of illness, or otherwise reports symptoms of illness, they will need documentation of a COVID-19 negative test to return OR more than 7 days at home without symptoms.
Non-student and non-staff visitors (non-essential personnel) will not be allowed on campus, with rare exceptions. Anyone entering campus must pass temperature and health screening.
Decrease COVID-19 transmission among staff and students
In-person learning will happen Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday in isolated, learning pods of no more than 13 students. Virtual learning (MNZ Bridge) will take place on Wednesdays.
On campus instruction will take place in secluded outdoor classrooms. (Pods will have a designated indoor classroom space in case of extreme weather, which will have open doors and increased ventilation).
Students will wear masks at all times when indoors. Students will wear masks outside (unless indicated otherwise by their instructor). There will be opportunities for students to be without masks, when they are adequately distanced from others, and are in open-air spaces.
We will provide nutritious and eco-friendly sack lunches.
We will have assigned seating and desks will be 3-6 feet apart, based on their location, and the age of students. (Older students require more spacing than younger students).
Students will have their own materials and will not be allowed to share classroom supplies. Any necessary sharing will follow proper disinfecting protocols.
Pods will have designated bathrooms, which will have rules for occupancy and be cleaned regularly throughout the day.
We will regularly disinfect all high-touch surfaces.
Students will have frequent handwashing breaks and additional hand washing stations will be established throughout the campus.
Identify cases, contact trace and isolate infected students
If a child needs to be sent home because of symptoms of illness,, they will be safely quarantined until they can be picked up by their parent or guardian.
If a child or staff member tests positive for COVD-19, all students and staff in that learning pod will transition immediately to MNZ Bridge Virtual instruction for a two week quarantine. In compliance with HIPAA, we will not disclose the name or any information regarding conditions of their illness.
If a student travels by airplane, they must quarantine at home for two weeks prior to their return to campus and inform the school office. (Students will still be expected to participate in MNZ Bridge and complete at-home work.)
Academic Rigor and Embodied Learning
In order to support small group size, learning pods will consist of one (i.e. 8th grade) or two grades (i.e. 3rd/4th combo class).
Each learning pod will have a minimum of two permanent instructors per semester and function as a stand-alone learning community.
Students will receive in-person instruction in the following areas:
Unit of Study
Numeracy
Literacy
Students will experience Embodied Learning through some of the following activities:
Nature connection experiences on our 21-acre campus and beyond
Stewardship (near their secluded outdoor classroom space)
Vitality
Creative Arts
Students will participate in some of the following virtual activities (MNZ Bridge):
Cross-grade level at home Stewardship
Office Hours
Schoolwide Assembly
Interest-based Explorations
Moxie Block (HS)
MNZ Bridge Virtual School
MNZ Bridge will require students to communicate with a school-provided email address and complete assignments via google classroom. Students will also be expected to video conference weekly in different groupings.
Students will be expected to participate weekly in MNZ Bridge, and their work and attendance will be reflected on their narrative.
MNZ Bridge will serve to keep connections alive between all students and staff. It will include activities such as school wide assemblies, office hours with all staff, cross-grade level groupings, at-home stewardship, student chosen electives, etc.
We aim to continue developing Manzanita students’ tech skills, preparedness, and technology ethics. We will do this with the use of school provided email, online applications and software, video-conferencing with teachers, etc.
Staff Support
For the safety of our staff all adults on campus will be required to wear face masks, shields or coverings at all times.
In the event that a staff member is diagnosed with COVID-19 (or a member of their immediate family) we are committed to supporting their students during their recovery.
In an effort to create the safest work environment possible, Manzanita is committed to helping staff stay secluded with their school pod. Staff meetings and planning sessions will be encouraged to be held remotely.
Staff will be health screened daily to ensure their safety and the safety of others.
Community Connection
MNZ Bridge will be a weekly opportunity for students and staff to interact with their friends and peers who are not in their secluded pod.
We will host biweekly online parent council as a safe space for parents to meet and connect with one another.
We have a continued commitment to offering larger school gatherings online to promote a deeper feeling of connection and community.
Manzanita School will offer suggested curriculum and activities to support at home nature connection for students and parents.
Proactive Planning and Response
Manzanita will continue to provide updates and resources relating to COVID-19 in our weekly email bulletin, the Manzanita Message.
Our decisions and planning are based on the most up-to-date scientific data and suggestions available to us. We are aware that the current pandemic is a fluid and ever-evolving challenge. We will adjust plans and expectations as new information emerges.
An important factor in maintaining the quality of our program is the weekly use of the MNZ Bridge platform. This weekly practice will support student readiness should we be required to fully quarantine at home. We are committed to offering a unique, dynamic and academically enriching learning experience no matter the learning environment.
We are open to answering any questions or concerns and welcome them via email at info@manzanitaschool.org.