Staff Coverage Plan

Each class has two teachers to maintain child to adult ratios per regulations. The toddler classroom is a two day program, which has the same teachers as the Nursery which has the three day program. The Preschool program is a 3 day a week program with the option to add 1 or 2 additional days in order to experience additional activities and a smaller group making a possible 5 day program that has the same two teachers. (We are currently hiring for our Toddler/Nursery Assistant Teacher position).

Before entering the school building staff members will be checked for fever of 100 F or above with a no-touch, infrared thermometer. They will also screen for other signs of illness using the COVID-19 Screening Tool provided by the RI Department of Human Services (DHS) and RI Department of Health (DOH). 

Children and adults who have a fever of 100 F or above, or other signs of illness, will not be permitted in the school building. 

In the event a staff member has symptoms of COVID-19, the children they were in close contact with on the two days prior to the symptoms started, the staff member will be asked to self-isolate and exposed children will quarantine until the staff member is tested. If the staff member tests positive, they will remain in isolation until 10 days after symptom onset and at least three days asymptomatic. If the staff member tests negative, children can go back to child care and another teacher can be placed in the classroom. The staff member that was symptomatic can return to the classroom once symptoms resolve.

The teachers that will cover our staff will be parents from our community that are able to cover for 5 day periods of time. We are a cooperative school. Our families serve as teacher assistants. In normal years, our families would work as teacher assistants daily in addition to the two teachers.  There would be an additional assistant in the toddler and nursery classrooms and two in the preschool. Our parent assistants meet DHS guidelines for fingerprinting, CANTS, and health requirements. Under the current circumstances, we will be asking them to help, but to keep the groups as stable as possible we will want to have the same person for multiple days when coverage is needed for consecutive days in a substitute capacity. Parents will only be helping outdoors with the cleaning of the playground and helping children get from our car line to the school or playground at this time.

Sick staff members should not return to work until they have met criteria to discontinue home isolation:  https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/if-you-are-sick/steps-when-sick.html