Health and Wellness

An Update from Belinda Wilkerson, College Counseling
• The SAT for May has been canceled.
https://pages.collegeboard.org/natural-disasters
• The ACT for April has been canceled.
http://www.act.org/content/act/en/covid-19.html

Students who are registered for either of these dates will receive an email from the respective organizations.

Just Say “No” to Playdates
This article by a pediatrician caught our eye. He recommends not scheduling playdates for children during this time.
https://www.drstevesilvestro.com/no-coronavirus-break-playdates-heres-why

Collecting Materials from School
As Virtual Learning begins this Monday, March 23, you may remember that you need to collect materials from school. The plan for LMC is that someone will be in the Admin Building on the Lead Mine Campus from 9:00 a.m. until 12:00 noon each weekday next week. If you call the school in advance or email Front Desk Administrative Coordinator Amanda Rugh at arugh@msr.org, we will set materials outside for you.

If you need to retrieve materials from the Brier Creek Campus, please email Administrative Coordinator & Registrar Kate Falkiner at kfalkiner@msr.org, and she will assist you.

Spring Break
We hope this week has given you and your family time to absorb the changes we are all experiencing and the time to talk about virtual learning, which begins on Monday, March 23. Good Friday, April 10, and Easter Monday, April 13, will continue to be school holidays. Should families decide to follow through on family travel plans over the originally scheduled Spring Break dates (April 4-13), we will accommodate student absences.

Transition to Virtual Instruction

Beginning on Monday, March 23, we will transition to virtual teaching and learning through Friday, April 3. We will continue to monitor the situation and reevaluate at the end of this month whether virtual teaching will need to continue past April 3. Given current conditions in this country and around the world, an extension of virtual instruction seems likely.

We are fortunate that during this time of great uncertainty, we as a school have the resources, the nimbleness, the skill and expertise in our staff, the partnership with parents, the support from our Board, and the teamwork to continue to educate our students and sustain operations. That is, our stewardship of the school and its mission continues. Although the timing for a return to a more normal approach is unknown, what is not unknown is that our students must continue to learn and that we will continue to teach.

Encore, Afterschool, Athletic, and Community Events
Encore and all other afterschool, athletic, and community events are suspended until further notice. We are also canceling all overnight trips through the end of the year. If circumstances improve, we will design creative ways to give our students alternative off-campus experiences to enjoy before the year ends.

Parent-Teacher Conferences Scheduled for Friday, March 27.
Conferences will be conducted by conference call. Teachers will be in touch to explain the mode of communication that will be used. Please make sure your child’s teacher has your preferred contact information prior to your scheduled conference time.

Caring for Our Students, Our Families, and Each Other
As we launch our virtual instruction program and support parents with resources to use during this time, we are also caring for faculty and staff. All administrative offices are working remotely to conform to best practices in social isolation. The campus remains open for any employee who has a need to come to campus, but we monitor the numbers to avoid having more then two to three employees on campus at any one time. Although it should be clear that full compensation and benefits continue for all employees through this period, as delivery of the program and operations continue, we are being explicit in this update to allay any concerns that anyone might have.

We Are Here to Answer Questions and Provide Support
We are responding to phone calls and emails and are here for you should you have questions or need support. Do not hesitate to reach out to teachers, division heads, or any member of the administrative team. ​Here is a link to our “Contact Us” page on the website.


No Confirmed Cases of COVID-19
At this time, we know of no confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the MSR community. Should we learn about any new developments going forward, we will share them with you.

If you believe you or an immediate family member may have been exposed to COVID-19 (Coronavirus) please call your local health department. In Wake County, you can call 919-250-4462. You should also call your doctor to tell them your situation. Please do not go out in public until you have spoken to the health department. If you or an individual in your household tests positive for COVID-19, please notify us.

Archive of COVID-19 Communiques
All Updates related to COVID-19 may be found on our website by clicking here.

Stay Well

From Interim Head of School Jeannie Norris

On behalf of Board President BJ Stolz, the Senior Leadership Team, and faculty and staff, I write to share our plans in the face of the rapidly changing environment surrounding COVID-19. On Tuesday of this week Governor Cooper declared a state of emergency for North Carolina. Yesterday, the World Health Organization declared the spread of COVID-19 a pandemic. We have been closely monitoring the situation and following the recommendations and guidance of the CDC and the state and local health department.  We have developed a plan for MSR that we believe will allow us both to continue to educate our students and reduce health risks for our community.

Spring Break
Spring Break, formerly scheduled for April 6 through April 13, will be moved to next week, March 16 through March 20. Good Friday, April 10, and Easter Monday, April 13, will continue to be school holidays.  Should families decide to follow through on family travel plans over the originally scheduled Spring Break dates, we will accommodate student absences.

Transition to Virtual Instruction
Beginning on Monday, March 23, we will transition to virtual teaching and learning through Friday, April 3.  We will continue to monitor the situation and reevaluate at the end of this month whether virtual teaching will need to continue past April 3.  

Our teachers have been preparing for this possibility and will be ready to support and educate students through virtual channels.  Head of Lower School Aubrie Hile-Hoffer and Head of Middle & Upper School James Taylor, along with their respective faculty, will share a detailed explanation of this approach with students and parents soon. In anticipation of this eventuality, your children have already been introduced to techniques they will use to learn in a virtual domain.  While different than most of us are used to, we believe virtual delivery of our program is the best way to continue our students' learning while keeping everyone safe.  Science magazine recently called virtual program delivery “the most powerful nonpharmaceutical intervention that we can deploy” as a society to prevent the spread of the novel Coronavirus.   Here is a link should you wish to learn more:

https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/03/does-closing-schools-slow-spread-novel-coronavirus

Encore, afterschool, athletic, and community events
After the school day tomorrow, March 13, Encore and all other afterschool, athletic, and community events are suspended until further notice.  This includes Donuts with Dads scheduled for March 18-19.  We are also canceling all overnight trips through the end of the year.  If circumstances improve, we will design creative ways to give our students alternative off-campus experiences to enjoy before the year ends. Parent-teacher conferences that were scheduled for Friday, March 20 have been rescheduled for the same times on Friday, March 27 and will be conducted by conference call.  Teachers will initiate the conferences by calling parents at the scheduled time. Please make sure your child’s teacher has your preferred contact information prior to your scheduled conference time.

We understand the difficulty our decision will create for families.  Please know we are committed to supporting students and parents through this unexpected transition.  

At this time, there are no confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the MSR community.  As is most always the case, we have faculty and staff not feeling well and absent from school.  Because of the current situation, these colleagues have gone through the correct professional channels and followed all protocols and recommendations of health officials and their personal doctors.   Should we learn about any new developments going forward, we will share them with you.  

If you believe you or an immediate family member may have been exposed to COVID-19 (Coronavirus) please call your local health department. In Wake County, you can call 919-250-4462. You should also call your doctor to tell them your situation. Please do not go out in public until you have spoken to the health department.  If you or an individual in your household tests positive for COVID-19, please notify us.  

All Updates related to COVID-19 may be found here on our website.

As always, we value your partnership and look forward to working with you and your family as we move forward.

Sincerely,

Jeannie Norris
Interim Head of School.  

 

 

COVID-19: Update 3-6-20

Our Tactics: Increased Focus on Cleaning and Disinfecting
County and State health officials have assured us that we should maintain our regular, routine cleaning procedures in schools. They have stressed that we should approach the Coronavirus (COVID-19) the same as influenza. 

Here is a summary of cleaning protocols from Tom Thomas, Director of Buildings and Grounds. 

• Floors are swept, vacuumed and mopped daily.
• Kitchen or kitchenette counter tops are cleaned with a disinfectant cleaner daily.
• All bathrooms are mopped and cleaned using an antimicrobial cleaner and disinfectant daily.
• All door handles are wiped each night with an antimicrobial cleaner and disinfectant.
• When a deep clean is required, bleach is used.
• Classroom and common areas are routinely disinfected. (The disinfectant used is hospital grade and effective for 30 days.) This protocol was initiated in January when we were seeing an increase in students and faculty with flu. The protocol will be continued until further notice. 
• We are disinfecting busses daily.

Our Tactics: Handwashing and Elbow Bumps
• Faculty, staff, and students wash hands upon arriving on campus and before beginning work, and frequent handwashing continues throughout the day.
• We have adopted the practice of bumping elbows and/or waving instead of shaking hands.

Our Tactics: Staying Up to Date
The Administrative Team monitors the CDC site daily and stays apprised of updates coming to us from State health officials and various associations to which we belong.

Here are inks to sites we are monitoring, and you may wish to monitor them as well.
https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html
https://www.ncdhhs.gov/ 
https://www.ncdhhs.gov/press-releases

Our Tactics: Virtual Learning
The Educational Leadership Team (ELT) in partnership with MSR Director of Educational Technology Melissa Edwards met and began preparing for the possibility that at some point local authorities could close schools in the Triangle. Virtual platforms and learning software are already integrated into much of the delivery of the curriculum, especially in the upper divisions. 

ELT’s focus now is on organizing material so it can be delivered completely through virtual channels, even for our youngest learners. The goal, even in virtual space, is to provide students with a consistent and familiar schedule, knowing that this is the best framework for learning and engagement. If school closings are announced, we will be in touch with parents to provide details on virtual learning, as well as recommendations, suggestions, and resources for activities that parents can use at home.

School Travel
Spring Domestic Trips: We are seeing travel discouraged across many sectors. We had no international travel scheduled for this year, and at this time, we are evaluating all of the domestic trips scheduled for April and May. We will share additional information as we make decisions. 

Field Trips: We will evaluate the risks for field trips and make decisions on a case-by-case basis. We believe, however, that field trips that place students in crowed settings, e.g., theaters, auditoriums, etc., where they are in close proximity to large numbers of other students, is counterproductive to keeping students safe. Please stay in touch with your child’s classroom teacher for updates. 

Family Travel
As we approach Spring Break in a few weeks, we encourage parents to stay informed about health conditions in destinations being considered for family trips. Travel bans can appear with short notice and quickly affect departures from and returns to the US. These sites provide much information. 

• https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/
• https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/traveladvisories/traveladvisories.html/

Your Partnership
The goal always is to keep children and teens well and to limit exposure to illness. Please do not allow your child to come to school if they are experiencing any of the following:

• Temperature of 100 degrees or higher within the last 24 hours
• Diarrhea or vomiting within the last 24 hours
• Severe cough
• Severe cold, especially with greenish/yellow nasal discharge

If diagnosed with
• strep, a child must be on antibiotics 24 hours before returning to school
• flu, a child should stay home for at least 24 hours after the fever is gone, and the fever should be gone without the use of a fever-reducing medicine, such as Tylenol®

Tips
• When coaching your child at home to wash hands, suggest they either sing the “Happy Birthday” song while they wash or count slowly to 20. That is the recommended amount of time to ensure washing is thorough.
• Discourage children at home from sharing straws, drinking cups, utensils, etc.

Links to sources of information on how to talk to your child about the virus
• https://childmind.org/article/talking-to-kids-about-the-coronavirus/
• https://www.nbcnews.com/better/lifestyle/how-talk-your-kids-about-coronavirus-ease-their-fears-ncna1129851
• https://www.healthline.com/health-news/how-to-talk-to-kids-about-the-coronavirus#Make-sure-you-understand-the-risks
• https://time.com/5776857/how-to-talk-to-kids-coronavirus/

Link to tips on how to talk with children/teens about unsettling news of any kind in the media
• https://www.commonsensemedia.org/blog/explaining-the-news-to-our-kids

As there are updates about the virus or changes to our plans, we will update you. In the meantime, we know you join with us in being vigilant, following recommended protocols, and using common sense. Thank you for your partnership.