2022-2023
El Paso Academy
Return to School Plan
Safe Return to In-Person Instruction & Continuity of
Services Plan
Updated: August 3, 2022
PLEASE NOTE: The details in this document are subject ot
change as directives are provided by the State of Texas, the Texas Education
Agency, El Paso City/County Health Authority, and other governing authorities
and/or health officials or as environmental conditions change.
Table
of Contents
Introduction……………………………………………………………………………………….. 3
Provide Notice …………………………………………………………………………………….3
Attendance……………………………………………………………………………………..…..3
Prevent: Strategies to Reduce
Transmission…………….…………………………………….3
Safety
Protocols……………………………………………………………………………….4
Respond:Required Actions to Lab-Confirmed Case
in the School………………………….4
Stay
at Home Period for COVID-19 Symptoms, Test Confirmed or Close Contacts….4
Determining
Close Contact…………………………………………………………………..5
Isolation
Protocols…………………………………………………………………………….6
Mitigate: Health and Hygiene
Practices………………………………………………………...6
Screening
Protocols…………………………………………………………….…………….7
Ventilation………………………………………………………………………….…………..8
Protocols for Campus
Cleaning and Disinfecting……………………………….…………8
Protocols for
Restrooms…………………………………………………………….………..8
Protocols for Visitors………………………………………………………………….………8
Work and Learning
Environments…………………………………………………….…….8
Protocols for Emergencies
and Drills………………………………………………….……9
Emergency Evacuation
Protocols…………………………………………………………..9
Appendix
A……………………………………………………………………………………….10
Revision
History………………………………………………………………………………….11
INTRODUCTION
We look forward to welcoming all
students back to our campuses. We recognize COVID-19 is still present in our
community and prevention measures will continue during the 2022-2023 school
year. We recognize COVID-19 can infect
people of all ages, and schools should everything feasible to keep students,
teachers, staff, and our communities safe. Evidence suggests that many K-12
schools that have strictly implemented prevention strategies have been able to
safely open for in-person instruction and remain open.
The Texas Education Agency does not
offer public schools the option to offer at-home learning for students outside
of traditional support for home-bound students. Therefore, students will need
to return to campuses for in person learning, five days a week.
PROVIDE NOTICE
This document is intended to fulfill the
Texas Education Agency (TEA) requirement for school systems to post for parents
and the general public a plan for instruction on
campus. This document provides a detailed plan that students, staff, and school
leaders will follow to mitigate COVID-19 spread in schools for on-campus
activities and instruction.
Public
school systems are to operate in compliance with existing state laws and
regulations, including all executive orders issued by the governor of Texas in
response to the COVID-19 pandemic that are currently in effect.
ATTENDANCE
For many students, in-person school is
more effective than virtual learning, and a return to primarily in-person
instruction will have positive results across a range of factors (academic,
social, mental and emotional, physical) for most
students, teachers, and parents.
Per
Texas Education Code (TEC), §25.092, students must attend 90% of the days a
course is
offered
(with some exceptions) in order to be awarded credit
for the course. This requirement remains
in force during every school year, regardless of the public health situation in
El Paso.
During the stay-at-home period, El Paso
Academy will deliver remote instruction consistent with the practice of remote
conferencing outlined in the proposed 2022-2023 Student Attendance Accounting
Handbook (SAAH) rules.
PREVENT: STRATEGIES TO REDUCE
TRANSMISSION
Regardless of the level of community
transmission, El Paso Academy will apply the following prevention strategies
during delivery of in-person instruction:
·
Use
of masks is encouraged
·
Physical
distancing to the extent possible
·
Handwashing
and respiratory etiquette
·
Cleaning,
disinfecting, and maintaining healthy facilities
·
Contact
tracing in combination with isolation and quarantine are useful strategies in response to an outbreak.
Each of these strategies provide some
level of protection, and layered strategies implemented at the same time will
provide the greatest level of protection.
SAFETY PROTOCOLS
El Paso Academy will continue to work
with the El Paso City County Health Authority and consider recommendations from
this entity should health conditions change in our city. The district maintains
the ability to modify its face coverings requirements if the situation changes,
such as a higher transmission level or Governor’s order.
RESPONSE:
REQUIRED ACTIONS TO LAB-CONFIRMED CASED IN THE SCHOOL
1.
If
an individual who has been in a school is test-confirmed to have COVID-19, the
school must notify its local health department, in accordance with applicable
federal, state and local laws and regulations,
including confidentiality requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act
(ADA) and Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).
2.
Upon
receipt of information that any teacher, staff member, student, or visitor at
school is test-confirmed to have COVID-19, the school must submit a report to
the Texas Department of State Health Services via an online form. The report
must be submitted each Monday for the prior seven days (Monday-Sunday).
3.
Consistent
with school notification requirements for other communicable diseases, and
consistent with legal confidentiality requirements, schools must notify all
teachers, staff, and families of all students in a classroom or extracurricular
or after-school program cohort if a test-confirmed COVID-19 case is identified
among students, teachers or staff who participated in those classrooms or
cohorts.
Once
the assessment of the exposure is conducted, schools must close off areas that
are heavily used by the individual with the lab-confirmed case (student,
teacher, or staff) until the non-porous surfaces in those areas can be
disinfected, unless more than three days have already passed since that person
was on campus.
STAY AT
HOME PERIOD FOR COVID-19 SYMPTOMS, TEST CONFIRMED OR CLOSE CONTACTS
If
students are non-symptomatic or are vaccinated, they do not need not to quarantine for the 10 days. If students
are positive and non-vaccinated regardless of vaccination status, they need to
quarantine for 5
days and continue to wear a
mask around others for 5 additional days. If a student is vaccinated and
positive but non-symptomatic, no quarantine is required. If
students have a fever, they need to continue to stay home until the fever
resolves.
A
vaccinated individual does not need to stay at home following close contact
exposure to a test-confirmed individual if both of the following conditions are
true:
·
The
exposed individual is fully vaccinated and boosted (at least two weeks have passed
since receiving the second dose of a two-dose vaccine or the first dose of a
single-dose vaccine) AND
·
Have
not experienced any COVID-19 symptoms following close contact exposure to a
test-confirmed individual.
·
Individuals are encouraged to wear a
mask around others for 10 days, and test on day 5, if possible. If symptoms develop,
the individual should get a test and stay home.
Individuals
who have tested positive for COVID-19 within the past 3 months and recovered do
not have to stay at home or get tested again, as long as
they do not develop new symptoms.
·
Individuals
who develop symptoms again within 3 months of their first bout of COVID-19 may
need to be tested again if there is no other cause identified for their
symptoms.
Updated
CDC recommendation, as of October 22, 2021, for fully vaccinated people who
have a known exposure to someone with suspected or confirmed COVID-19 is to be
tested 5-7 days after exposure, regardless of whether they have symptoms.
Alternately,
students can end the stay-at-home period if they receive a negative result from
a PCR acute infection test after the close contact exposure ends.
During
the exclusion period, El Paso Academy may deliver Remote Conferencing instruction
consistent with the practice of remote conferencing outlined in the proposed 2021-2022
Student Attendance Accounting Handbook (SAAH) rules.
To
help mitigate the risk of asymptomatic individuals being on campuses, El Paso
Academy will administer rapid antigen tests to students and staff who show
symptoms of COVID-19 at school or upon request.
Testing of students will require parental consent.
DETERMINING
CLOSE CONTACT
As
note above, public health authorities will be
notified of all positive cases. While
school systems are not required to conduct COVID-19 case investigations, local
public health entities have authority to investigate cases and are currently
engage in cooperative efforts on that front.
Participation by individuals in these investigations remains voluntary.
If El Paso Academy is made aware that a student is a close contact, the school
will notify the student’s parents.
CDC
guidance defines “close contact” someone who was within 6 3 feet of an infected
person (laboratory-confirmed or a clinically compatible illness) for a
cumulative total of 15 minutes or more over a 24-hour period (for example,
three individual 5-minute exposures for a total of 15 minutes).
Exception: In the K–12 indoor classroom setting,
the close contact definition excludes students who were within 3 to 6 feet of
an infected student (laboratory-confirmed or a clinically compatible illness)
if both the infected student and the exposed student(s) correctly and
consistently wore well-fitting masks the entire time.
For
clarity, close contact is defined as:
·
Being
directly exposed to infectious secretion (e.g., being coughed on, sharing a
drink); or,
·
Having
significant and sustained contact with an individual who is lab-confirmed to
have COVID-19. Factors like social
distancing, masks, ventilation, presence of dividers, and case symptoms may
affect this determination.
·
Either
scenario above defines close contact if it occurred during the infectious
period of the case, defined as two days prior to the symptom onset to 10 days
after symptom onset. In the case of
asymptomatic individuals who are lab-confirmed with COVID-19, the infectious
period is defined as two days prior to confirming lab test and continuing for
10 days following the confirmed test lab test.
·
If
you are determined to meet the definition of close contact with a lab-confirmed
case of COVID-19, you may be required to self-quarantine.
ISOLATION PROTOCOLS
Individuals
with symptoms of infectious diseases, including COVID-19, influenza,
respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and gastrointestinal infections should stay
home and get tested for COVID-19.
As with all illnesses, Staff or students displaying COVID-19 symptoms
will be sent home if they have a fever of 100.4 or higher, are vomiting, or
have diarrhea. Staff or students will
also be sent home if the administration determines the symptoms may be from
COVID-19.
Students who are ill will be separated
from their peers and should be picked up within 30 minutes and no later than 1
hour from the time the campus contacts the student’s parent/guardian.
Staff members suspected of being
infected of COVID-19 will follow district protocols including isolation from
students and other staff members.
In the case of an individual who is
symptomatic and is diagnosed with COVID-19, the individual may return to school
when all three of the following criteria are met:
·
At
least 24 hours have passed since recovery (resolution of fever without the use
of fever-reducing medications),
·
The
individual has improvements in symptoms (e.g., cough, shortness of breath);
and,
·
At
least 10 days have passed since symptoms first appeared.
In the case of an individual who is
asymptomatic but has received a positive COVID-19 test result, the individual
may not return to the campus until ten five days have passed since a positive test result.
If
the individual has symptoms that could be COVID-19 and want to return to school
before completing the above stay at home period, the individual must either (a)
obtain a medical professional’s note clearing the individual for return based
on an alternative diagnosis, though for health privacy reasons the note does
not need to indicate what the alternative diagnosis is, or (b) obtain an acute
infection test at a physician’s office, approved testing location, or other
site that comes back negative for COVID-19.
If
the individual has tested positive for COVID-19 and believes the test was a
false positive, and wants to return to school before completing the above stay
at home period, the individual must either (a) obtain a medical professional’s
note clearing the individual for return based on an alternative diagnosis,
though for health privacy reasons, the note does not need to indicate what the
alternative diagnosis is, or (b) obtain two PCR acute infection tests (at a
physician’s office or approved testing location) at least 24 hours apart with a
negative COVID-19 result.
HEALTH AND HYGIENE PRACTICES
Measures
and precautions taken to protect students and staff may vary throughout the
year depending on the transmission level.
At a minimum, the following measures will be in place:
·
Hand
sanitizing stations throughout the hallways
·
Daily
cleaning and disinfection of campuses
·
Reminders
to parents/guardians to perform daily self-screening for COVID symptoms
EPA
strongly recommends wearing masks for everyone at school when inside,
regardless of vaccination status.
Students in specific situations may also be provided a face shield for
specific instructional settings like speech therapy, reading intervention, and
other settings where a mask is impractical.
Students,
teachers, staff, and campus visitors will be encouraged to wash their hands
and/or use hand sanitizer frequently. Students will be encouraged to wash their
hands for at least 20 seconds at least twice per day in addition to after using
the restroom and before eating. Bathrooms will have signage reminding students
of good handwashing techniques.
Campuses
shall provide staff with access to disinfectant wipes, spray cleaners, and
disposable towels to sanitize high-touch and working surfaces and shared
objects regularly.
Staff
will limit the use of shared supplies whenever possible.
Protocols
for books and supplies should be followed by staff in order
to reduce exposure.
Students,
teachers, staff, and campus visitors will be asked to cover coughs and sneezes
with a tissue, and if not available, covered with their elbows. Used tissues
should be thrown in the trash, hands should
be washed immediately with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, or hand
sanitizer should be used.
SCREENING PROTOCOLS
Staff will complete a wellness screening
for COVID-19 symptoms prior to reporting to work each day. Staff must ensure
they do not come to campus if they have symptoms causing suspicion that they
are infected with COVID-19.
Parents/guardians are expected to screen
their students for COVID-19 symptoms (as listed in Appendix A) each day prior
to sending their child to school.
Parents must ensure they do not send a student to school if they suspect
their child has COVID-19 symptoms or is test-confirmed with COVID-19, until the
conditions for re-entry are met.
Students will be required to complete a
daily wellness screening prior to entering the campus. Parents/guardians will be contacted
immediately should a student fail to meet the requirements of a wellness check.
Additional screening, such as temperature checks, may be conducted at the
campus.
Staff and students should not enter
campuses if any of the following apply.
The individual is:
·
Sick,
has displayed COVID-19 symptoms, or has a confirmed COVID-19 case. See
Appendix A for a list of
symptoms and see Appendix B for isolation guidelines and
conditions for re-entry.
·
If
the student is awaiting COVID-19 test results.
Teachers will monitor students and refer
them to the office should symptoms be present.
El Paso Academy visitors or
parents/guardians to self-screen for COVID-19 symptoms using questionnaires before
entering the campus.
VENTILATION
El
Paso Academy regularly changes filters of its HVAC systems across the campuses to
improve air quality inside its buildings.
Filters are changed monthly, and air conditioning units are checked
regularly by HVAC professionals.
PROTOCOLS
FOR CAMPUS CLEANING AND DISINFECTING
Enhanced
cleaning protocols have been put in place as a result of
COVID-19 and are based on current local, state and federal health and
government guidelines. Protocols include the use of EPA registered chemical for
disinfection, focus on proper dwell time (contact time) of 10 minutes for
proper disinfection of chemicals and increased frequency of disinfecting high
touch surfaces.
Staff
will ensure high-touch areas in the classroom are wiped regularly with
disinfectant.
Additional
measures for COVID-19 positive cases on campuses will include additional
cleaning in areas of heavy use (classroom, restroom, workroom, etc.) for any
individual who is lab-confirmed to have COVID-19 while at school.
Campuses
will close off areas that are heavily used by individuals who are lab-confirmed
to have COVID-19 until the non-porous surfaces in those areas can be
disinfected, unless more than 3 days have already passed since that person was
on the campus.
PROTOCOLS
FOR RESTROOMS
Social
distancing will be expected in all areas including bathrooms. Staff will limit the number of students
that enter the bathroom at one time to comply with health agency
recommendations and provide for social distancing.
Staff
and students must wash hands with soap and water prior to exiting the bathroom.
PROTOCOLS
FOR VISITORS
As long as transmission are
low, El Paso Academy will allow visitors with administrator approval and as
consistent with campus procedures. If
transmission levels become more severe, an impacted campus will revert to a
“closed campus” that prohibits outside guests during the day.
Virtual
tools may be used to conduct meetings such as ARDs, LPACs, etc.
WORK
AND LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS
Classroom
Configuration
·
All
large, unnecessary furniture and fixtures will be removed from classrooms to
allow as much space as possible for students to have physical distancing.
·
Teachers
will use assigned seating charts to allow contract tracing for test-confirmed
cases.
Collaborative
Work and Projects
·
During
low transmission levels, collaborative work and projects will be allowed.
·
Should
transmission levels increase, based on the direction and advice of the TEA,
CDC, and city county health authority, collaborative work and group projects
may be suspended.
General
Classroom Supplies
·
Hand
sanitizer, tissues, and trash cans will be available in all classrooms to limit
staff and student movement.
·
El
Paso Academy will provide adequate supplies to minimize the sharing of high
touch materials.
Meeting
Spaces
·
During
low transmission levels, face-to-face meetings will be allowed.
·
During
moderate transmission levels, only meetings essential to school operations will
be allowed.
·
During
substantial transmission levels, no visitors are allowed. All meetings involving individuals outside
the school district will be conducted virtually.
Transitions
·
During
low transmission levels, transitions and traffic patterns are determined by
campus procedures.
·
During
moderate and substantial transmission levels, traffic patterns will be
established throughout the campus that separate individuals to the greatest
extent possible.
PROTOCOLS
FOR EMERGENCIES AND DRILLS
El
Paso Academy will continue to follow the Standard Response Protocol (SRP) and
its emergency actions of Hold, Secure, Lockout, Lockdown, Evacuate, Shelter and
Reunification.
EMERGENCY
EVACUATION PROTOCOLS
Administration
will continue to implement drills and protocols as defined by the Texas school
Safety Center.
APPENDIX
A
COVID-19
Symptoms
People
with COVID-19 have had a wide range of symptoms reported – ranging from mild
symptoms to severe illness. Symptoms may appear 2-14 days after exposure to the
virus. Anyone can have mild to severe symptoms. People with these symptoms may
have COVID-19:
·
Fever
or chills
·
Cough
·
Shortness
of breath or difficulty breathing
·
Fatigue
·
Muscle
or body aches
·
Headache
·
New
loss of taste or smell
·
Sore
throat
·
Congestion
or runny nose
·
Nausea
or vomiting
·
Diarrhea
This
list does not include all possible symptoms. CDC will continue to update this
list as they learn more about COVID-19. Older adults and people who have severe
underlying medical conditions like heart or lung disease or diabetes seem to be
at higher risk for developing more serious complications from COVID-19 illness.
REVISION
HISTORY
|
Document Version |
Revision Date |
Initials |
Revision Notes |
|
1.0 |
7/2/2021 |
SG |
Draft of Document |
|
2.0 |
8/25/2021 |
SG |
21-22 Public Health Updates |
|
3.0 |
11/17/2021 |
SG |
Safety Protocols, Close Contact,
Screenings, Ventilation |
|
4.0 |
8/03/2022 |
SG |
Updated to reflect CDC guidelines |
|
|
|
|
|