Important Updates Regarding COVID Testing & Hybrid Learning Prep

Dear Aidan Community,

I will get straight to the point here with two important updates regarding our reopening planning. Then, I will provide additional information about these two points below.

1. Re-entry COVID-19 Testing: On November 2, between 11:00 AM and 6:00 PM, the school has arranged for an outside organization to be on campus, administering COVID Testing to all employees of Aidan Montessori School and all children that will return to the school in person to participate in the Hybrid Learning Program.

2. On November 2, 5, and 6, we will have Hybrid Learning Prep Days. The lead and assistant teachers will be setting up their classrooms. As a result, students will not have their typical DLP 2.0 school days. Rather, alternative programming will be offered. Primary students may anticipate receiving their usual Specials classes on those days, between 10:30 AM and 11:30 AM. Elementary students may anticipate hearing about their robust alternative program shortly, from Mr. Purse.

ON COVID TESTING

After further consultation with our outside public health experts, evaluating the relevant standard of care, and gathering feedback from our families and staff, we have decided to require that all of our students obtain a COVID test before participating in the hybrid learning program on November 9. Faculty and staff will also be tested before we commence in-person learning on November 9. 

While we continue to stand behind the science Nurse Lexi and Dr. Cave articulated in the Community Reopening Update on October 14, we also recognize that our families, faculty, and staff need to feel safe, and that baseline testing helps increase this sense of trust in each other as we proceed with hybrid in-person learning. However, we want to emphasize to our community that our collective compliance with the safety measures outlined in the Reopening Handbook remains of the utmost importance. 

Testing is neither a replacement nor a substitute for diligent and correct mask-wearing, hand hygiene, physical distancing, and adherence to the other precautions we have outlined in the Reopening Handbook. We urge our community to not allow a misplaced sense of confidence resulting from a negative test to dilute their rigorous adherence to Handbook procedures. We must all remain vigilant and responsible to each other. 

Aidan has contracted with FiveMedicine to conduct COVID-19 testing on Monday, November 2 from 11:00 AM to 6:00 PM for all staff members and all students who will be attending in-person beginning November 9. The testing will take place outside on Aidan’s campus. An email with the testing sign-up link will be sent to all families and staff on Wednesday morning at 10:00 AM. Additional information about the check-in and testing process will also be included in that communication.  

The test that FiveMedicine will be administering are the PCR mid-nasal tests. They are not as uncomfortable or invasive as the posterior nasal tests. FiveMedicine has assured Aidan that the mid-nasal tests are the "gold standard" of testing and are pediatric-friendly. Nurse Lexi will be onsite for the entirety of the testing time to help facilitate and answer any questions. You should receive your results in 24-48 hours after the testing. The results will also be sent by FiveMedicine to Nurse Lexi, so you will not have to submit your results to anyone. 

If you are unable to make it to the testing on November 2, then it is your responsibility to get testing done prior to returning to Aidan in-person. Please contact Nurse Lexi at l.pollack@aidanschool.org if you have any questions. 

ON CLASSROOM PREPARATION

Please know we were reticent to take time away from online learning in order to set up the Montessori Classrooms. Ordinarily, the teachers spend “set up week” getting their environments into purposeful and beautiful condition the week before school starts. We now face a logistical challenge because our teachers need to be online every day, teaching DLP 2.0, and that alone leads to longer days than during normal times. In addition to setting their classrooms up to the usual standard, the teachers now need to contend with Pandemic-related set up, including what furniture and other items can be removed from their classrooms, how fans, filters, and televisions might be positioned so as not to interfere with the environment, and implementing new customs and procedures in their classrooms such as the ebb and flow of Montessori materials, cleaning, etc.

This is why on November 2, 5 and 6, the lead and assistant teachers will not be able to teach their usual online schedules as they will be preparing their classroom environments in order to safely welcome students on November 9. On these days, Primary students may still anticipate their 10:30-11:30 AM specials blocks, and the Elementary students may anticipate hearing about an alternative schedule from Mr. Purse shortly.

We thank you again for your continued support, understanding, and cooperation as we prepare to reopen in-person safely under our Hybrid Learning Program.

Sincerely,

Kevin Clark