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First day of school is today. Our fancy-pants private school has the space and staff and money to do full time in-person relatively safely, so that's what we're doing. (They also have an entire parallel Distance Learning Program built in Canvas and running concurrently. Combo of some families have opted out, if you have the slightest hint of a sniffle you're not allowed in the building, and they're expecting to abruptly send whole classes into quarantine for a week at a time at the drop of a hat all year. It's all very modular. So any given day, if going to school isn't an option, you can just pick right up where you left off but virtual.)
There's this whole elaborate phase-in. Yesterday we had a 15 min get to know you session where we dropped the kids off and milled awkwardly in the parking lot because parents aren't allowed in the building. Today and the rest of the week, they go home before lunch. Next week, they go home right after lunch on Monday and Tues, and then move to full days (no aftercare) on Wed. They figure the kids are seriously not used to being in a classroom anymore, and they're trying to ease them into it. (Which is fair. Before the last six months, ARR has never been out of school/daycare for more than two weeks since he was three months old.)
Dropping him off was like freaking airport security. We have a 10 minute window for his specific year. You get there and you stand on one of the Xs spray painted on the sidewalk until they call your year/boarding group. I flash my pre-clearance QR code from the health app that we had to fill out no later than an hour before school, including a temp read. He proceeds on to the next teacher, who zaps him with the forehead temp read gun for temperature taking #2. I can't actually see the next steps, but according to the elaborate instruction video we received, he then got his hands sanitized by a third teacher. Then up the stairs to the hall outside his classroom, where he changed his shoes and left his outdoor shoes in the designated-with-tape-on-the-floor area. Then he had to wash his hands again.
He's got his mask, and his back-up mask in a baggie, and his back-up baggie for used masks, all labeled. He's got his own water supply he has to bring. He's got his chair, labeled with tape and his name, and his personal little plastic shield protecting him from the personal little plastic shield protecting his classmate at the far end of the table. When he leaves, he'll be thoroughly decontaminated on the way out, too.
...we should probably stock up more on moisturizer. Because this poor kid's hands are going to be cracking by January from all the washing.
There's this whole elaborate phase-in. Yesterday we had a 15 min get to know you session where we dropped the kids off and milled awkwardly in the parking lot because parents aren't allowed in the building. Today and the rest of the week, they go home before lunch. Next week, they go home right after lunch on Monday and Tues, and then move to full days (no aftercare) on Wed. They figure the kids are seriously not used to being in a classroom anymore, and they're trying to ease them into it. (Which is fair. Before the last six months, ARR has never been out of school/daycare for more than two weeks since he was three months old.)
Dropping him off was like freaking airport security. We have a 10 minute window for his specific year. You get there and you stand on one of the Xs spray painted on the sidewalk until they call your year/boarding group. I flash my pre-clearance QR code from the health app that we had to fill out no later than an hour before school, including a temp read. He proceeds on to the next teacher, who zaps him with the forehead temp read gun for temperature taking #2. I can't actually see the next steps, but according to the elaborate instruction video we received, he then got his hands sanitized by a third teacher. Then up the stairs to the hall outside his classroom, where he changed his shoes and left his outdoor shoes in the designated-with-tape-on-the-floor area. Then he had to wash his hands again.
He's got his mask, and his back-up mask in a baggie, and his back-up baggie for used masks, all labeled. He's got his own water supply he has to bring. He's got his chair, labeled with tape and his name, and his personal little plastic shield protecting him from the personal little plastic shield protecting his classmate at the far end of the table. When he leaves, he'll be thoroughly decontaminated on the way out, too.
...we should probably stock up more on moisturizer. Because this poor kid's hands are going to be cracking by January from all the washing.
