Are you wondering what school will look like next year?
The information below outlines what safety procedures will be put in place in each area of the school. Take a look. Email or call the school with any questions or comments about our plan.
East Midvale Safe Return Plan
V. 2 July 23, 2020
If you decided to have your student return to East Midvale for in person instruction this fall we will do everything possible to make each student feel safe, welcomed, and part of their classroom and school community. I want to personally acknowledge that you will have many concerns about in person instruction, and I want you to know that as a parent of two school age students and with a wife who is immunocompromised, I fully understand the concerns. We all want to protect our whole community from exposure to Covid-19 and other infectious diseases, and we are truly putting so much trust in each other to try and come back to school. If we all take these precautions seriously, I am hopeful and confident we can have a safe return to in person learning.
East Midvale will follow the recommendations from the Health Department, Governor Herbert’s office, and the Canyons District School Board and require face coverings when physical distancing is not possible in all school settings and environments.
As educators, we are experts in teaching routines to students. I have no doubt that we will be able to safely teach and reinforce the new normal of wearing a face covering. While this won’t be an easy task, it’s something that I’m confident we will be able to do with your support.
Please click on a topic below to expand that section for more information.
- Students sit in assigned seats with siblings they may have, when possible.
- Students without a face covering are given one.
- When weather allows, the windows will be rolled down to increase air flow.
- When possible, the teacher or admin greets students as they arrive at school on the bus and asks the driver if the students have sat in assigned seats, wore face covering, stayed seated, and used the correct voice level.
- Teacher gives positive behavior points for any things the students did well.
- Students are reminded of the expectations for physical distancing, wearing a face covering, lining up, and entering the building. Students without a face covering are given one.
- Students are reinforced with positive behavior points for wearing face coverings as they arrive.
- Students will be allowed to be outside until the bell rings. We will have supervision by teachers and other staff. Students will be reinforced and reminded to wear face covering.
- Students will line up on dots that are 6 feet apart.
- Teacher checks for face covering and gives positive behavior points for wearing face covering correctly and being on time to school.
- Youngest students enter building one class at a time, followed by the older students.
- Students use hand sanitizer upon entry to the classroom.
- Students arrive and get hand sanitizer and they put their belongings at their desk, or other space that keeps their backpacks, coats, etc. away from other students’ things.
- Teacher, or other assigned student, helps put breakfast on students’ desks to minimize congregating at the back table.
- To minimize congregating at the back, lunch choices will be made on a near pod on the chromebook, or other way appropriate for the grade level.
- Physical distancing addressed by desks being separated
- Students are facing forward as much as possible, if sitting at tables.
- Teacher will wear face covering/shield at all times when physical distancing is not possible.
- Desks or workspaces will have to be facing forward and in rows as much as possible.
- Students will need to have their own materials and tools kept at their workstation as much as possible. We can order chair pockets that fit to the back of the chair to give more space for student materials.
- Students will need a chromebook assigned/checked out to them for the year.
- We will remove non essential furniture and other items to allow for as much space as possible between students.
- Doors will be opened by custodian or teacher in the morning and will need to remain open all day to increase airflow and to limit HTP (High Touch Point) contact.
- Teachers will establish a “traffic flow” pattern, similar to one way aisles in grocery stores, to minimize student contact.
- The district will provide all classrooms with hand sanitizer stations, and approved disinfectant wipes that can be used to clean surfaces and high touch points throughout the day.
- Traffic flow established through floor and wall signage
- Classes will have an exact assigned time to go to lunch, down to the minute, to avoid congregating in the hallway.
- One way direction will be established based on what side of the hall you are.
- No high fives, etc.
- Students fold arms and face forward as usual.
- Students, classes, and grade levels given positive behavior points for following expectations.
- Only two students are allowed in the bathroom at a time.
- Students wait by wall signage if more than two students are in the bathroom.
- As much as possible, classes will have designated time slots to use the restrooms to reduce the possibility of having more than two students at a time.
- Students are reinforced with positive behavior points for following expectations, washing hands for 20 seconds, and respecting others’ privacy.
- Students wash hands with soap and water for 20 seconds prior to lining up.
- Students put their face covering in a baggie or folder, or other way that keeps them separate and sanitary, with their name on it ,prior to going into the cafeteria. The teacher gives them their mask back when they come in from lunch recess.
- Since students will not have a face covering on, we will put dots or other markings on the cafeteria floor 6 feet apart and have students stand on those as they approach the serving line.
- Students will use different colored, single use tickets, to indicate the lunch choice they made.
- Lunch choices will be limited and there will be no salad/fruit bar, so the line will move quickly, avoiding students standing closely to one another without a face covering on.
- Cafeteria will be setup with tables facing the same way, so students aren’t facing each other while they eat.
- Students will be assigned a seat and we will only have three students per table.
- We will make use of the extra space in the gym to set up tables, to space out even more.
- Students dismissed in orderly fashion, one class at a time to avoid congregating at the trash bins. There will be one way movement as each row of seated students leave and put their garbage in the trash. They will get hand sanitizer as they head outside.
- Face coverings will not be required in the lunch room or at recess.
- We will assign each class a quadrant that is the same each recess and keep them in the same groups. Students will have access to equipment that can be easily cleaned between uses. Students earn positive behavior points for appropriate use, cleaning up, staying in their “quadrant” and lining up correctly.
- Classes will rotate weekly to different quadrants to have access to different games.
- Students will wear a wristband or lanyard associated with the color of the quadrant they are assigned to play in.
- Bathroom breaks at recess will be highly regulated. Only one student at a time will be allowed in the school to use the bathroom, since they won’t have a face covering on. Priority will be given to younger students.
- Students will have assigned seats, that mirror the classroom arrangement so students stay sitting by the same students.
- Computers, tables, other common items/areas will be sanitized in between classes.
- As much as possible, one time use items will be used for Art projects.
- Each class will be given a set of basic art materials that they will use exclusively.
- As much as possible the Brain Booster teacher will come to the regular classroom to provide the instruction and activities.
- Teachers will keep their own students and create intervention groups using reading data.
- Interventionists will rotate into classrooms and provide additional support for small group, skill based interventions.
- We will get portable tri fold plexiglass to put up during small group work, so that we can be flexible with giving instruction to different students at different times depending on need.
- We will order portable, tri fold, plexiglass barriers, to use for speech language therapy and other small group or one on one intervention sessions.
- We will work with all families with students with an IEP or 504 Plan to determine what individual needs should be addressed and added to the plans to support access to the general education classroom.
- Signs and floor markings will indicate where to stand and that we can have no more than 3 people in the office at any given time.
- We will have plexiglass barriers installed due to the office being a high traffic area.
- Students go to the same assigned quadrant as lunch recess.
- Quadrants and activities will rotate on a weekly basis.
- Students will be allowed to walk laps if they don’t want to choose any of the activities provided.
- Students will be assigned a chromebook for the year.
- Chromebooks will be sanitized, as much as possible depending on the age of the student, by the student, at the end of the day.
- We will use classroom aides and other school personnel to help sanitize equipment and HTP’s in our Kindergarten and First Grade classrooms.
- Assemblies will be done virtually twice a month.
- We will offer both online/virtual 1:1 appointments and face to face appointments with families and classroom teachers prior to school starting. The face to face meeting will be held outside or in the gym.
- Parents will also watch a video or screen cast that includes the orientation information and Title One meeting requirements. They will sign in to a google form and then be directed to the link of the video.
- When entering a school building, essential volunteers will undergo temperature checks, sign a log to facilitate contact-tracing, and be expected to wear a face covering.
- Pizza with Pops and Dads and Donuts, Pastries with Parents, Book Fair, etc. will be postponed, or done virtually (if possible) until they can be held as normal.
- Health Clinics (Immunization, Medical, Flu) will be held in accordance with Utah and District guidelines
- Parents will be contacted immediately and the student quarantined in the sick room if any of the symptoms are present in any student.
- Fever or chills (temperature of 100.4 degrees F or higher)
- Vomiting
- Diarrhea
- Any diagnosed communicable disease (flu, chickenpox, measles, etc.)
- Known close contact with an individual who has been diagnosed with COVID-19
- 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
- Students receive positive behavior points for following safety rules, using the crosswalk, boarding the bus with patience, sitting in assigned seat on bus, wearing a face covering, etc.
- All Custodians will be required to wear face covering when in public areas or closer than six feet when working with coworkers.
- Restroom checks will be performed three times daily to ensure adequate soap and paper products are available.
- All facility High Touch Points (HTPs) will be sanitized daily and disinfected two times per week, after facility occupants leave, to reduce exposure to toxic disinfectants.
- All High-Risk areas, restrooms, locker rooms, sick rooms, showers, pre-school, day care, and any body-fluid spills will be disinfected daily or at the time of incident.
- All facility water fountains will be sanitized twice daily and disinfected after facility occupants leave to reduce exposure to toxic disinfectants.
- Hand sanitizer dispensers are being installed at the main entrance, main office and cafeteria at all facilities., hand sanitizer will be located in every classroom.
- To reduce HTP exposure we will keep open all interior doors 10-minutes before expected use and remain open all day to reduce door/handles HTPs and to help ensure good air flow, reducing exposure risk.
- Custodians will use electrostatic sprayers with Hypochlorous Acid on all cafeteria tables after school each day.
- Custodial Services is in regular contact with Salt Lake County Health Department local representative, Randy Williams, LEHS, to discuss CSD cleaning and disinfecting procedures.
| Descriptor | Lower Risk | Higher Risk |
| Movement | Directed | Undirected |
| Duration | < 15 Minutes | > 15 Minutes |
| Proximity | > 6 Feet | < 6 Feet |
| Group Size | < Recommended Limit | > Recommended Limit |
| Respiratory Output | Normal | Increased |
| Touch | Low | High |
| Congestion | Low | High |
