March 5, 2020

Dear Greene Street Friends School Community Members, 

 

There has been a lot of news lately about the Coronavirus and the steps individuals and institutions are taking to minimize the risk of transmission. We have been following the news closely and would like to provide you with some updates about steps Greene Street Friends School is taking to keep our students, faculty and staff safe, as well as ideas for home. While we are hoping for the best, we remain vigilant in our planning.

 

Steps we are taking:

1. Hand washing. Please remember to wash with soap and warm water for 20 seconds. Teachers will also be encouraging regular and rigorous hand washing at school.
2. Close monitoring of attendance and sanitization of classroom spaces. We are increasing our cleaning service, as well as monitoring absences. Classrooms with significant illnesses will be deep cleaned.
3. Modified greetings. Morning and classroom greetings will no longer be handshakes. Each teacher will select a new greeting for their students and community.
4. Water Fountains. We encourage every student to bring in a refillable water bottle that can be used at the bottle refilling stations throughout school, rather than using the water fountain.
5. The State of Pennsylvania has released a new travel advisory you can find here. We ask all members of our community to comply with these new guidelines. 
6. We will be rigorous about sick children. As a reminder, it is our policy that students remain home for 24 hours after a fever breaks or vomiting ceases. Please do not send your child to school if they are sick.
7. Evaluating home technology and virtual learning opportunities. Some cities abroad have elected to conduct online classes rather than in-person classes to combat the spread.  We are exploring virtual education options and would like to know everyone's technological capabilities. Please help us by completing this survey.
8. We are encouraging a fully healthy community. When teachers or staff are sick, they are encouraged to remain home. We have contracted with an agency to provide us with substitute teachers and will work to continue classroom learning even with teacher absences. 

As many of you know, our Costa Rica Exchange Program is a transformative experience for all of our 7th Graders. They have been planning for this 11 day visit for the full year, and some as early as Pre-K! The students and their chaperones are scheduled to leave for Costa Rica on March 10, 2020.  We are evaluating the travel plans and will be in close communication with this class about any changes in travel advisories that may happen. Currently there are no travel advisories that pertain to Costa Rica.

 

We will continue to closely monitor the situation and provide you with updates as they become available. Please feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions or concerns.

 

Sincerely,

  

Edward Marshall

Head of School

PS: I've included several helpful links for monitoring the virus:

Phila.gov:https://www.phila.gov/services/mental-physical-health/environmental-health-hazards/covid-19/?fbclid=IwAR29VinQJ4zH9WU11kOPamWoFlC10HqhEFg8rxIGNgCS5eIQQRMzkbM1mi4

Updated travel advisory from the State of Pennsylvania:  https://www.media.pa.gov/Pages/Health-Details.aspx?newsid=726

CDC:https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-nCoV/index.html

WHO:https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/advice-for-public

Talking to your children about Covid-19: https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/02/28/809580453/just-for-kids-a-comic-exploring-the-new-coronavirus

Understanding some of the racial undertones in discussing Covid-19 and other public health events (please note that this article was created for educators): https://www.tolerance.org/magazine/speaking-up-against-racism-around-the-new-coronavirus