Under the guidance of Governor Holcomb's “Back On Track Indiana” plan, we reopened our school building on Monday, May 4. It was a decision we did not take likely. We opted to reopen because we understand the critical importance of ensuring that the children we serve do not fall behind academically or socially, and we know that many parents rely on MLK to keep their child safe and supervised while they are at work or school.
Of course, we also understand that COVID-19 remains an ongoing threat, and we are taking unprecedented precautions to keep everyone safe during our STEM Summer Camp and the 2020-2021 school year:
· Every person (including staff, students, parents, etc.) must have their temperature taken using a no-contact infrared thermometer before they are allowed to enter one of our school buses or the school building.
· Students, staff, and visitors are required to wear masks in our building. Students receive their mask as soon as they arrive at school, and they return them to their teacher at the end of the day so that they can be laundered. (Fortunately, we have plenty of masks, thanks the generosity of staff, individual supporters, and Faith United Methodist Church!) Although it was at first somewhat challenging for the children to be masked, we told them that wearing a mask makes them a superhero because it gives them the power to keep others safe. They have absolutely embraced that role, and we have been amazed and truly inspired by their resiliency and their willingness to do what they feel is best for the people around them.
· We are maintaining smaller class sizes: no more than 10 students per classroom during the summer and no more than 13 students per classroom during the school year. To help isolate potential outbreaks, classes do not interact with one another, and students continue to eat their meals in their individual classrooms.
· While cleanliness has always been a priority, we are more diligent than ever about ensuring that students wash and sanitize their hands regularly, and we wash and sanitize frequently touched surfaces within the school multiple times each day. We also sanitize our school buses after dropping children off at school and again after dropping them off at home.
· In the past, students frequently worked collaboratively as they explored our school’s Montessori materials. However, with COVID-19, we are encouraging social distancing as much as possible, and students are doing more individual work. This means that we have had to purchase additional Montessori materials for our classroom to discourage students from working collaboratively with a single item. Fortunately, we recently received a $27,500 grant from Early Learning Indiana to help with this expense.
· We are taking advantage of the beautiful summer weather and our fantastic outdoor resources (including our school garden!) as much as possible, as viral spread is less likely to occur outdoors.
We are hopeful that, with these additional precautions in place, we can continue to safely and effectively support our students, helping them to develop the skills they need to keep pace—academically, socially, emotionally, and developmentally—with their peers and enter school ready to learn.
