DaVinci Connection-December 18, 2020

TENTATIVE RETURN DATE (K-5)

• • Once a school is able to meet ALL the requirements in the new plan, schools may begin a staggered schedule for opening.  This staggered reopening approach allows for close monitoring of any potential spread of COVID-19 as a school reopens.
  • The state only allows schools to begin bringing students in with a maximum of three grade levels at a time.  As a result, DaVinci HOPES to open to all K-2 students on January 25.  If we are able to start K-2 on the 25th, DaVinci will be able to welcome back all grade 3-5 students on February 8.  In order for us to confirm these dates/plans for all of our families and staff by January 8, we are seeking your feedback per the survey link below.

TENTATIVE TRANSITION DATES

• • Schools are required to utilize their transition days for teacher planning and building prep.
  • DaVinci will tentatively schedule our required transition dates for January 20-22.  Because Monday (Jan 18) is a holiday and Tuesday (Jan 19) is a planned professional development day for staff,  this means that there will be no school for all grades the week of January 18 (Wednesday-Friday would be required teacher planning days). If we are able to hold school for middle school that week we will (we are still waiting to hear back from the MN Dept. of Education).

WEDNESDAYS

• • A Minnesota Executive Order still requires additional ongoing daily prep time for teachers in order to support learners who choose to remain in distance learning. We have the option to concentrate that additional prep into one day (which we already have built into our schedule on Wednesdays)
  • For now, we will keep Wednesdays as at-home learning days for all students. As soon as we are able to we will transition Wednesdays to full in-person days.

MASKS and SOCIAL DISTANCING

• • With the return to in-person learning students will not be expected to socially distance from one another, however, they will still be expected to socially distance from adults.
  • Staff will social distance from students to the extent possible.
  • Students will be required to wear masks at all times including inside PE and indoor recess.
  • Staff must wear a mask and a shield.

TESTING

• • Staff will have the opportunity to take a Covid-19 test on-site every other week during in-person learning.

LUNCH AND BUSING

• • Lunch will still take place in classrooms.
  • Buses will still have assigned seats to assist with contact tracing but students will be able to share seats with others as 6 foot distancing is not required for students.
  • Students will still be required to wear masks while riding the bus

DAVINCI DEN AFTER SCHOOL PROGRAM

• • The DaVinci Den program will be open to enrolled families beginning on Monday, January 25 (or whatever the first day back to school is for our K-2 students) for after school care on school days only. We are not able to offer school release day care at this time. Please contact the program coordinator with any questions.

QUARANTINE

• • Individual classes, students, and staff will still need to follow the quarantine guidelines, following any exposure, as required, even after the return to in-person learning. Families should be aware of this and have a plan in place for when/if their child is required to learn from home during a period of quarantine.

Please note: We are going to ask families to commit to one of our two learning plans (distance learning or full in person learning) for the remainder of the school year. We are asking K-5 families to make this decision by Monday, January 4. We are not able to provide another re-entry point this school year as it impacts teacher assignments for students.  As noted at the beginning of the year, if you are changing your child’s learning model, your child’s classroom teacher may change as we adjust for in-person class size and staffing needs. Please complete this survey no later than Monday, January 4, 2020 indicating your decision whether to return to in-person learning this school year OR to remain in distance learning for the remainder of the school year. We have made the form editable up until January 4.  We are encouraging families to fill out the survey as soon as possible.  We understand this is a short timeline to make an important decision, however, we want to give our staff as much time as possible to prepare.

My very best wishes to you and your family,

Ahava