What reopening will look like at San Dieguito Academy

The San Dieguito Academy administration made a video presentation regarding our school and districts reopening information. Above all, everything will follow CDC recommendations and state guidelines. In case you didn’t watch the video, here’s the reopening breakdown: 

What’s happening now? 

All students are continuing distance learning entirely at home; the video published on Nov. 5 said students will be able to return to campus on Jan. 4, 2021. 

However, some students such as those in the assessment, therapy, social-emotional support, English learners, and targeted academic needs groups are able to access the campus. 

Extracurricular groups such as Thespian Honor Society, Japanese Honor Society, the book club, and more have been able to fill out requests to carry out socially-distanced and safe gatherings on campus. 

Health and safety

According to Principal Adam Camacho, health and safety will always be at the forefront of decision-making for staff members and students. 

If a student chooses to return to campus, they must abide by the Health & Safety Agreement and self-screen using a symptom checker before arriving. Masks must be worn on campus; SDA will provide masks for students who need it. 

Other personal protective equipment such as hand sanitizer and portable handwashing stations around campus will be provided for everyone. Teachers will be given gloves, face shields, plexiglass dividers, and more. 

Ventilation systems such as Tri-Dek filters will “prevent the bypass of dirty air providing for  100% filtering of the air,” according to the slides. HEPA filters and pop-up tents will also be available for additional safety precautions.  

Safe navigation on campus 

When arriving on campus, students will need to remain six feet of distance from others from indoors and outdoors. There will be four access points for the symptom screening station: one at the student parking lot near the tennis court, one near the storage room, one near the shops, and one at the main office.

There will be directional markers including enter and exit only signs. An exception of this will be the shops which will only feature one way in and one way out exit.

Breakfast and lunch will be available. Masks can be removed when eating outdoors but eating is not permitted during class.

Students will be monitored by school staff to make sure they are following all procedures. Students who do not follow procedures will not be allowed on campus. 

Daily cleaning and restrooms 

All rooms, including restrooms, will have a max capacity posted by the door. All high-touch surfaces will be disinfected daily by the custodial staff, who will utilize a color-coded cleaning and disinfection document to record these cleaning processes, according to Assistant Principal Katie Bendix.

What happens if someone gets COVID-19 at school? 

If anyone is experiencing symptoms of COVID-19, they will be brought to a care room which is located behind the main office in Room 40 where they will be immediately picked up and taken from school. 

“Depending on the specifics of the incident, the school community, specific families, and staff will be contacted if there is potential COVID-19 exposure,” Bendix said in the video. “Campus exclusion will be determined by the district liaison, district nurse, and in collaboration with public health.” 

Classroom Instruction  

All students will be learning from home at least four days a week. There will be an option to come back to school once a week beginning on Jan. 4, 2021 (however, this date is subject to change.) It is possible that there will be an increase in the number of learning on school days depending on given conditions. 

For students who choose to come to school one day per week, they will be assigned to one of four groups. 

“Approximately 25% of the student body will be attending one of the four days of the week,” Assistant Principal Jeremy Meadows said.  

Despite the eventual return to on-campus learning, distance learning as it appears today will be an option for the remainder of the school year. 

Regarding physical distancing at school, students will be physically distanced to the “maximum extent possible.” There will be a minimum of 1m between student seating and a minimum of 6ft between student and teacher desks. 

There will be time to do small group collaboration through Google Meet breakout rooms or with other students in the classroom while practicing social distancing. 

Hands-on activities such as activities from the science, art, and technical education departments, will almost exclusively happen on days students are learning at home. Students will be sent home materials such as painting supplies and screen printing frames. In-person, however, students will not be able to share touched surfaces.  

Teachers will be receiving instruction on how to teach effectively for in-person and virtual learners at the same time.

For use during on-campus education, the district has purchased touch screen Chromebooks for every student. However, according to Assistant Principal Celeste Barnette, the delivery has been delayed so students may need to bring their own device, charger, and headphones from home.  

Social interaction

There will be informal interaction between classes within assigned subgroups and in-person extracurriculars for students who choose to stay on campus. All students whether learning at home or at school will have the opportunity to participate in in-person extracurriculars.   

All families will be able to fill out the SDA reopening survey that will launch on Nov. 16, which will give families the option to continue with distance learning entirely from home or to return to campus for one day a week. This survey will close on Nov. 30 at 4 pm.