Screening Testing
Bank Street facilitates weekly testing of staff and students throughout the year. If a case arises in our building, that person is isolated and we begin contact tracing to identify and test others who may have been exposed to the virus.
Daily Health Questionnaire
Each morning, Bank Street families complete a health questionnaire prompting them to report symptoms for everyone in their family. Everyone entering our building will also be screened for fever through a thermal camera. If an individual presents a temperature of greater than 100.0°F, they will not be permitted to enter the building.
Attendance Policies
Our attendance and sick policies have been updated to include protocols around attendance in cases where a child or family member may have symptoms of or may have been exposed to the COVID-19 virus.
Face Coverings
Face masks are expected to be worn at all times, except when three to six feet apart and in a stationary position for snack, lunch, and approved mask breaks, and during some outside activities. We support children in age-appropriate ways to wear masks throughout the day. Students can bring their own face masks to school, though Bank Street will supply face masks for all staff and students who may need them.
Air Cleaning & Purification
Bank Street has made infrastructure investments to the HVAC system over the course of the last five years, including additional HVAC improvements such as installing MERV-13 filters last summer. We also added a UV air purification system and added HEPA filters to all of our classrooms, enabling us to reach at least six exchanges per hour in all educational spaces.
Classroom windows are kept open during the school day to ensure ongoing fresh air in each room. In addition, windows will be kept open for at least two hours before and after the school day.
Cleaning & Hygiene
Teachers help students develop healthy habits by creating routines around frequent hand washing throughout the day, including upon arrival at school, before eating food, after using the bathroom, and after re-entering the building, as well as before and after each activity.
We have installed additional hand sanitizer dispensers in each classroom and throughout our hallways as well as touch-free hand soap dispensers and faucets where needed.
Daily Procedures
- Arrival & Dismissal: Drop-off times are staggered in order to ensure students have time and space to enter the building safely. In order to further mitigate the risk of infection, parents and other adults outside of the school community will not be allowed in the building unless vaccinated and approved in advance.
- Lunch: Lunch will occur in each classroom. During lunch, students will be able to unmask, but they will need to remain distanced.
- Transitions (Hallways, Stairs, and Elevators): Students remain six feet apart whenever possible. During transitions, students must wear face coverings and stay in a single file on the designated side of the hallway and stairwell. The use of the elevators will be strictly limited to students who receive pre-approval for ADA-accessibility needs.
Social Distancing
In order to create social distancing in classrooms, we will be enforcing a rule of at least 50 square feet per person to each classroom, which is based on maintaining approximately six feet of social distance wherever possible. The maximum number of students in a given group is determined by the number of students able to safely be together in their assigned room.
We were able to reduce enrollment in our 3s classroom and are limiting in-person learning to 15 children in our pre-K classrooms. These children will spend the day together and teachers will be mindful of creating an environment where children have more physical distance with each other.
Children’s interaction will be limited to those within their class, except in certain situations that allow for adequate social distancing.