La Cristianita Preschool Response to COVID-19
Changes to safely begin the 2020/21 school year:
Dear Parents,
As we plan for a safe return to school for the 2020/21 school year, many plans have been made to help ensure we keep our students as healthy as possible. We are returning to school with plans that will be different from what we are used to, but are changes that we feel are necessary to comply with guidelines from the OC Department of Health, Community Care
Licensing and the State of California. Please carefully read through these changes so you can be prepared.
• Please watch for an email invitation to Brightwheel. Log into the site and add all information for your child including address, phone numbers, emergency contacts and people authorized to pick your child up from school. We will be using Brightwheel for all sign in and out, communication, billing, and much more so please get your child’s information input and add the app to your phones.
• No parent or siblings will be allowed on campus. At drop off, parents will take children to the sign in table located by the gate to the playground. A staff member will meet you there, ensure you have signed your child in on your Brightwheel app and take your child’s temperature. Any fever 100 degrees or higher will not be allowed at school. We then will assist in getting your child’s lunch and anything else brought to school, helping them say good bye, and escorting your child to their classroom for the day. As they
leave you, we will be sure they use the hand sanitizer station before they enter campus. For the time being, we will not be having our typical morning opening or chapel. Once we are cleared to Stage 4 reopening, we will look forward to these traditions returning!
• If your child is ill or has a fever, they must be home from school until they have been symptom free for 72 hours before they return. We will not allow your child back before then so please make arrangements for care if needed.
• When you arrive to pick your child up at the end of their day, the same procedure will take place as we help you sign out using Brightwheel on your phone and bring your child to meet you at the gate.
• If your child stays for lunch, please be sure all lunches come in disposable bags. For the time being, we will have no lunch boxes at school. If you have something that needs to be heated, please pack it in a zip lock bag and we will transfer it to a paper plate for heating. We will be limiting how many things can go back and forth from home to school and from school to home.
• If your child is staying for a nap, please bring a crib sized sheet, a SMALL blanket, and a small stuffed animal if they would like – label everything with your child’s name. All bedding will be put in a school provided bag and kept at school. We will launder all bedding weekly at school!
• We are asking parents to help supply items needed for school supplies that are usually shared. This year, each child will have their own bag of supplies to use each day. We are hoping parents can donate a box of crayons, a box of washable markers, a pair of children’s scissors and some glue sticks to be used to fill these bags.
• Through out the day, toys and equipment will be disinfected. We will have children wash their hands thoroughly as we transition play areas such as from outside to inside, etc. Nap cots will be disinfected each day, as well as playground equipment and handles of every kind.
• The need to wear masks will be based on state guidelines. If you would like your child to wear a mask to school, please feel free to do so. Staff and other children will be encouraged based on what is being determined prior to the start of the school year.
We realize these are changes to our normal routine at La Cristianita. We hope we can return to our traditional school day routines soon, however we know if we all talk to our children about the new routines, they will adjust just fine. We will have smaller groups on the playground and many classes will eat lunch outside so we can limit larger groups sitting so close to each other at a table. It is our goal to keep preschool a fun, social and learning environment, while implementing some new procedures that will make us better even without the COVID-19 epidemic. We appreciate your support and can’t wait to see all of those sweet little people back on our campus August 3rd!