Our plan is to open as normal for in-person classes on Wednesday, August 12th, and remain open for the duration of the 2020-2021 school year.
Overview
This document details our preliminary plan for reopening this fall. It references plans and notes for daily entry, lunch, extracurricular activities, academics, and more. This document and the procedures may be adjusted as needed based on guidance from local, state, and federal health and education authorities.
Quick Note from our Head of School:
RCS Family,
We know that these are trying, unnerving times, and we at RCS want to be a part of the solution through faith, prayer, and perseverance. We are preparing to be open as normal on August 12th for grades K-12 and August 17th for both Pre-K 3- and 4-year-old classes. We are committed to providing and promoting a safe, enriching education that focuses on growing our students spiritually, academically, and personally. We believe that we can do this in a traditional in-person experience with a few additional safety measures. RCS will monitor and adjust based on recommendations from Governor Hutchinson, the Center for Disease Control (CDC), and Arkansas Department of Health (ADH).
For all of our students and families, RCS will continue to promote and embody the Warrior Triangle: the alignment of the Love of a Family, the Light of a Church, and the Life of a School.
Prayerfully,
Matt Brewer
RCS Head of School
Basic information
- Academic Calendar. Our 2020-2021 school calendar is scheduled to operate as normal. We may have to adjust as needed, but we are currently operating as normal. A copy of the school calendar can be found here.
- Daily Schedule. School will begin as always each day at 8:00 AM. Early drop off begins at 7:30 AM. Dismissal times will remain 2:45 PM for Pre-K 3/4 and 3:10 PM for grades K-12. Staggered drop off times may be planned as we get closer to the first day of school. We will meet as normal Monday through Friday, except for previously scheduled holidays and events marked on the calendar.
- Sports and Other Extracurricular Activities. The Arkansas Activities Association (AAA) has provided guidelines for practices, and has continued to promote a plan to continue Fall sports. We will continue to adhere to the AAA guidance. Here is a link to the AAA COVID-19 update page. For our other activities and organized group and club events, we plan to offer those as well while adhering to pertinent local, state, and federal guidelines for small and large group events.
- Supplemental Curriculum. In an effort to provide our students with as much normal, enriching content as possible, we plan to continue to provide extracurricular classes such as art, music, physical education, library time, etc., as normal while adhering to pertinent local, state, and federal guidelines.
- After School Care. We will continue to offer after school each day until 5:30 PM to students in PreK - 6th grade. It will be free, as usual, for all PreK 3- and 4-year-old students, and $50/week or $15/day for all K-6 students. Social distancing guidelines will be observed to the best of our ability.
- Handbook Policies. We are currently working to monitor and update necessary policy changes in our handbooks to reflect the changing dynamics due to the pandemic. Policies under review include instructional time, absence policy, crisis plans, alternative method of instruction (AMI) plans, etc. These will be released in our handbook at a date closer to the beginning of school.
- On-Campus Activities and Learning: Classes and activities will resume as normal with additional safety practices in place. Our goal is to provide as close to normal yet safe routines and classes as possible so that our students are able to continue to grow and mature. Unlike public schools, we can offer smaller class sizes, better social distancing, spiritual comfort, and more invested parents to maintain a safe environment. Below you will find more information regarding the steps and procedures we are preparing to implement to help protect our kids.
Face masks and coverings
- We will require students in grades 3-12 to wear face masks while in high traffic, populated areas, such as hallways, entering the school building, and transitioning between classes, and where social distancing is not possible. We strongly encourage face masks for grades K-2.
- We are purchasing face shields and face masks for our students; however, we encourage students to provide their own face mask since our supplies are limited.
- Our teachers and staff will wear face masks in high traffic, highly populated areas when social distancing is not attainable. They will wear the masks or face shields in the classroom when proper social distancing is not attainable.
- All visitors, including parents, will be required to wear appropriate face coverings when they are in the building. We will limit the number of visitors to only those deemed essential. We ask parents to call ahead when planning to come inside the building or facilities. We ask that parents and other adults remain in their vehicles during drop off and pick up.
daily entry
- All students and essential visitors will be subject to a health screening before entering the buildings. Staff will check temperatures using a touchless sensor thermometer during morning drop-off. If the student’s temperature is higher than 100.4, he/she will either need to remain in the vehicle or wait in the nurse’s office until the parent/guardian can pick up the student.
- If a student has a temperature at or above the CDC recommended 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit, then that student should stay home until he or she has been fever free without the aid of medicine for 48 hours.
- We have different drop off points for students in grade levels in order to reduce the overall number of students entering the building.
- Once students enter the building, they will immediately go to their classrooms. For our secondary students, this means going to their first period classroom.
cleaning and sanitation
- Throughout the first week of school, there will be strong focus on proper hygiene for all students.
- Hand sanitizer stations will be available at all entrances, including at all classrooms and indoor gathering places.
- Students should bring their own bottle of water and only use the water fountains to refill their personal water bottles. We will disinfectant fountains often.
- Community areas like the multipurpose room, gym, and playground will be cleaned and disinfected often between uses to ensure safety.
- IMPORTANT NOTE: We are hiring an additional full time custodian to ensure better cleanliness during this time.
- We are still contracted with a cleaning company to continue to provide deep cleaning each week and after any large event.
- We have purchased additional supplies to assist with our cleaning effort.
social distancing
- Our goal is to enforce as much social distancing of six feet as possible, but there will be times when this objective is not available. At those times, outside of the classroom, we will require our students, faculty, and essential visitors to wear face coverings.
- We will organize our classroom spaces in order to achieve as close to six feet as possible between students. Our class sizes and room sizes afford us a more realistic way of doing so than other neighboring schools. Distancing is a reality with us more so than any other school in our area.
- Group events such as lunch and chapel will be limited and spaced appropriately per local, state, and federal guidelines.
- Classes and groups will be kept together as much as possible to reduce the chances of spreading any bacteria or germs.
- Our goal will be to limit the number of people in the hallways at one time. Again, this is a realistic goal for us due to our class sizes and facility size.
pe, recess, and playgrounds
- We firmly believe that our students, especially those in the lower elementary, need their play time and space. We do not want to contain and isolate them in a classroom all day.
- We will continue to offer recess as normally scheduled for all elementary students.
- We will reduce the number of students on the playground facilities and sanitize as often possible.
- Students will also continue to enjoy PE, and use outdoor spaces more often to promote better social distancing.
lunch
- We will continue to offer community lunch, but with a limited number of students during each scheduled lunch time. We believe that the benefits of students coming together during this time is important to their growth as a family.
- We plan to group students in bands such as PreK and kindergarten, 1st through 3rd grade, 4th through 6th grade, 7th through 9th grade, and 10th through 12th grade, while also spacing kids six feet a part in our multipurpose room.
- No community buffet will be provided.
- All utensils and napkins will be provided individually for students instead of available for all to acquire in a community area.
- Our current catered lunch trays from local restaurants will continue. We will continue to provide individual tray lunches as in the past.
- Students will wash hands before and after lunch.
- Our custodial staff will clean and disinfect the lunch area between lunches.
chapel
- Our chapel services are fundamental to who we are as a school and student body, so we are focused on providing even better services and growth than ever before.
- Our weekly chapel services will continue while observing guidelines for large indoor venue gatherings.
- We will space students and staff at an appropriate distance.
- We will limit the number of students in the area.
- We will continue to clean and disinfect the area between groups.
- Community members and speakers will be screened before entering, and they will also adhere to all school policies including face covering requirements.
back to school events
- For Open House information, click here.
- We will limit the number of attendees to only two parents/guardians per child/family .
- We will also limit the grades attending each day. Instead of having all PreK-12th grade families attend, we will separate that grouping further.
visitors
- Although we love the investment from our parents and community members, we will be limiting the visitors for the time being.
- We ask that all parents call the office ahead of time if they need to bring anything into the building, drop off a student after normal morning time, pick up a student early, meet with a member of the staff or faculty, or for any other reason.
- All visitors will be screened by checking temperatures and completing the same health assessment our students adhere to.
- Face coverings will be required for entry into the building.
student health guidelines
- Students who show symptoms of being sick and/or have a fever above 100.4 must stay home (fever, cough, shortness of breath, difficulty breathing, chills, repeated shaking with chills, muscle pain, headache, sore throat, stomach issues, new loss of taste or smell).
- The student must be symptom and fever free for 48 hours without medication before returning to school. Per the nurse's discretion, before returning to school, the student may be asked to receive a negative COVID-19 test, or a diagnosis from an MD that rules out COVID-19 and remain symptom-free (without medication) for 48 hours. Families should provide a doctor’s note to the school office when they receive any diagnosis. All COVID-19 test results must immediately be shared with the school administration.
- If the child tests positive for Covid-19, then please quarantine the child for at least 14 days unless a negative COVID-19 test can be secured before that time. Our school will remain in contact to continue to provide online education. Recovery from all symptoms and fever and a negative COVID-19 test will be required before the student can return to school. For safety, all in-home siblings must stay home for the same two week period.
- If a student has a fever and/or symptoms of sickness, he or she will be kept from contact with other students until they can be picked up. The school nurse will supervise.
- Parents will be contacted, and the child will be picked up.
- If a student tests positive for COVID-19, we will dismiss that specific child’s class and implement our new distance learning program for a minimum of 2 days in order to clean and sanitize the student’s classroom(s). Our goal is to return to school as quickly, but safely as possible.
- We will contact ADH and continue to follow current guidelines.
FAQ
If the above information did not answer some of your pressing questions, the questions and answers below may be helpful. As always, please contact the school administration by phone or email for more information.
Q) What happens if we have to close the school for an extended period of time?
A) Our faculty and staff is working on providing improved lessons so as not to allow our students to fall behind. We are continuing to work on this part of our plans. We will have consistent communication with our students and parents, use the same platforms across the grade levels, and include virtual one-on-one time between our teachers and students each week.
Q) How are you working to “catch up” students from any gaps from the distance learning in Spring 2020?
A) Our teachers are going to begin with a review early on of concepts and skills from the previous school year, and embed those important skills and concepts into the first nine weeks in order to fill any lost skills or gaps in learning that may have occurred during the forced distance learning that was forced to occur during Spring 2020.
Q) Can you ensure that social distancing is taking place in all classrooms?
A) Our goal is to keep our students and their work stations at least six feet apart when it is possible. There will be times that we are unable to restrict the distance to six feet. However, most of our class sizes are between 10 and 15 students, allowing us to provide greater distance than our neighboring schools.
Q) Will we have any large events, such as open house, fundraisers, choir programs, athletic events, etc.?
A) We will follow the current ADH guidelines for conducting events in indoor venues. We will schedule these as always and alert parents to the specific protocols in place, such as limited invitees, need for face masks, etc. Athletic events will be scheduled based on AAA governance. As of now, they are still planning to resume a fall schedule but restrictions on attendance and need for wearing PPE should be expected.
Q) Will we still have class field trips?
A) Serving is a main element of our goal to educate and raise disciples of Christ. As such, we will preview each trip and evaluate whether or not we can safely attend the trip.
Q) Will students be able to use the water fountains?
A) We will require that students bring water bottles with a top or cap on them to reduce the need for using drinking fountains. We will use them only for refilling the bottles, and they will be sanitized often to remain germ free.
Q) Will faculty and staff be screened before entering the building?
A) All faculty and staff will be screened, including taking temperatures, before entering the building.
Q) What happens if we have to close the school for an extended period of time?
A) Our faculty and staff is working on providing improved lessons so as not to allow our students to fall behind. We are continuing to work on this part of our plans. We will have consistent communication with our students and parents, use the same platforms across the grade levels, and include virtual one-on-one time between our teachers and students each week.
Q) How are you working to “catch up” students from any gaps from the distance learning in Spring 2020?
A) Our teachers are going to begin with a review early on of concepts and skills from the previous school year, and embed those important skills and concepts into the first nine weeks in order to fill any lost skills or gaps in learning that may have occurred during the forced distance learning that was forced to occur during Spring 2020.
Q) Can you ensure that social distancing is taking place in all classrooms?
A) Our goal is to keep our students and their work stations at least six feet apart when it is possible. There will be times that we are unable to restrict the distance to six feet. However, most of our class sizes are between 10 and 15 students, allowing us to provide greater distance than our neighboring schools.
Q) Will we have any large events, such as open house, fundraisers, choir programs, athletic events, etc.?
A) We will follow the current ADH guidelines for conducting events in indoor venues. We will schedule these as always and alert parents to the specific protocols in place, such as limited invitees, need for face masks, etc. Athletic events will be scheduled based on AAA governance. As of now, they are still planning to resume a fall schedule but restrictions on attendance and need for wearing PPE should be expected.
Q) Will we still have class field trips?
A) Serving is a main element of our goal to educate and raise disciples of Christ. As such, we will preview each trip and evaluate whether or not we can safely attend the trip.
Q) Will students be able to use the water fountains?
A) We will require that students bring water bottles with a top or cap on them to reduce the need for using drinking fountains. We will use them only for refilling the bottles, and they will be sanitized often to remain germ free.
Q) Will faculty and staff be screened before entering the building?
A) All faculty and staff will be screened, including taking temperatures, before entering the building.
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