Parent Portal
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FAQ
The information in this FAQ is subject to change due to rapidly evolving information throughout the School Year and without notice and should not be construed as a permanent commitment by SSJC.
WHAT ARE OUR PRIORITIES AS WE MAKE DECISIONS FOR FALL 2021?
One of our primary guiding principles for continuing to keep our buildings open for onsite learning is the interconnectedness of all of the members of our community and our shared responsibility to one another to follow health and safety protocols.
COMMUNITY AGREEMENTS:
During our Back to School Night on October 8th, 2020, we asked our community to think about ways we can all stay safe and work through the current Pandemic. In order for our school to stay open for as long as possible, hopefully for the entire school year, there are ways we can minimize any possible spread of the COVID-19 virus. Here is a list of agreements we all must abide by to the fullest extent possible:
When dropping off or picking up students from school, parents and caregivers are wearing masks and maintaining social distancing, and not congregating in front of the school
Families are avoiding gathering in groups where social distancing guidelines, including wearing masks, cannot be maintained consistently and throughout the course of the event, as these gatherings increase the risk of exposure
Families are avoiding gathering indoors, without masks, or where it would be difficult to ensure social distancing guidelines could be strictly enforced.
School employees are following these guidelines in relation to their lives outside of school as well
Families and employees are avoiding non-essential travel - when families (and household members) or employees do engage in essential travel, they are alerting the School. Families and employees must adhere to all travel advisories defined by the State of New Jersey that govern both international and domestic travel. The most up to date travel advisory list for NJ can be found HERE
If Families (or Employees) do engage in Essential Travel, they are alerting the school, and commit to self-quarantining for 7-10 days upon returning from their travels- away from all members of the Scandinavian School of Jersey City community, including their spouse and children (if applicable). If the latter is not possible, the child(ren) attending SSJC should also self-quarantine with their parent(s) or caregivers who traveled. This is important for the safety of our whole community.
2021/2022 FAQs
DROP OFF & PICK UP
Same as during the 2020/2021 School Year, parents are not allowed inside our buildings. At drop-off in the morning, adults dropping off are obligated to answer COVID screening questions on our FAMLY app before their child enters the school. Please note, in order to answer the screening questions, the adult dropping off has to be within 100 feet of the school itself to access this function of the app.
Temperatures should be taken at home prior to coming to school.
The school will check each child’s temperature once inside the building as an extra precaution; however, the daily health screenings and temperature checks will be an important metric that those entering the building are currently healthy.
We will not continue with staggered drop off in the mornings this year; however, we do ask that everyone give each other space while waiting outside, should there be other families dropping off at the same time.
CLEANING- HOW OFTEN IS IT BEING DONE?
Sanitizing occurs throughout the day by our staff, in big ways and small. After classes leave their classrooms, they are fogged by our support staff using a “fogger” containing a hypochlorous acid solution. (You can find more info about the specific machine HERE, and more information about the chemical structure and benefits of using hypochlorous acid HERE and HERE). We also use this solution in small spray bottles, to sanitize door handles, bathrooms, tools and materials after use throughout the day.
Our current guidelines are such that we need to limit the number of adults each class comes into contact with each day, and with the smaller class sizes, the need for support staff is lower, leaving us with staff who are able to help sanitize throughout the day. Our teachers help sanitize the classrooms and the materials after use as well.
Additional cleaning of the whole school also occurs in the afternoon and later in the evening by our cleaning staff.
AIR QUALITY
In both of our buildings, our HVAC systems are operating with the highest-level air filter (MERV-13) for both of our systems and fresh air circulation is at the maximum. Additionally, we have upgraded continual air filtering by adding a UV light and an Air Ionizer to the HVAC Air Handler as well as free standing Air Purifier in each classroom.
STAFF TRAINING AND PREPAREDNESS
Our school has been provided with guidelines from the Department of Health, the CDC as well as the Department of Children and Families. Using these guidelines, SSJC created an Action Plan for our school, which was shared with teachers prior to the start of summer camp. Training will be provided before the start of the school year as well.
TEACHERS
What happens in a class if/when a teacher gets sick with covid? Do the students also isolate or just watch carefully for symptoms? Is there a floater who comes to cover? If so, are they then sticking with that class for a longer period?
If there is a case of COVID-19 in the school (a teacher, child or family member of a child or staff member), the local Health Department will be notified, and they will guide us regarding next steps. Depending on the local transmission rate at that time, various scenarios are possible, such as the families and teachers in the affected class monitoring for symptoms, one class needing to self-quarantine for 14 days, or in extreme cases, the school closing down should there be a higher transmission rate within the school than in the community as a whole.
If a teacher is affected and has to self-quarantine for a certain number of days, a floating teacher, or substitute teacher, will take that teacher’s place. Rotation of staff will always be as minimal as possible.
TRAVEL
Like students, will teachers be required to self-isolate after travel out of state/to affected areas? What about International travel?
Teachers and families are all asked to follow CDC guidelines after Domestic travel as well International Travel, which can be found HERE.. It is of most importance for the well-being of everyone in our community, and for the school to remain open, that all members of our community abide by the guidelines put forth by the CDC.
MASKS
As SSJC is licensed under the NJ Department of Children and Families, guidelines have been put forth from the state, outlining requirements regarding the health, safety as well as child-teacher ratio at our school. These guidelines include information such as teachers being required to wear masks, children over the age of two will be encouraged to wear masks but are not required to. Guidelines are updated every so often and SSJC we will always follow the most up to date guidelines put forth by the state.
SSJC EVENTS
Our beloved fall events such as our Annal Tasting Event, Back to School Night, Halloween and Lucia were all re-imagined last school year with great success. We look forward to continuing to develop the ways we can build community and share our traditions with our families, so you can still have some of these experiences that are so uniquely Scandi.
Parent Teacher conferences were held remotely during the 2020/2021 School Year. As this pandemic has shown us time and time again, it is constantly changing and evolving. Conferences are held in early winter and late spring. We do not yet know whether they will be held via Zoom or in person.
INFORMATION DISSEMINATION
During the School Year, Parents will receive continuous updates from the Administration, covering various news, reminders and pertinent information.
COMMUNICATION WITH TEACHERS
Communicating with teachers at drop off and pick-up as we are used to and love will continue to look different from our pre-pandemic years; however, we found many ways during the 2020/2021 School year, and will continue to find new ways to connect.. We will continue using our FAMLY app, SLACK as well as email/phone calls and meetings over Zoom.
Teachers will inform you if anything is missing or running low out of your child’s cubby, such as extra clothing, diapers or wipes for example, as you will not be able to check that yourself.
OUR FOOD PROGRAM
Our Food Program has continued as usual, with some alterations such as classes eating their meals in their individual classrooms, versus our common dining areas.
A big part of our approach to children and meals/food, is that we value children serving themselves and passing the serving dish to their friends. For right now, the teachers will serve the children, and we have asked parents to provide lunch boxes, thermoses and utensils for the children to eat from, and bring home at the end of the day to wash. This was a decision made to avoid any cross-contamination in shared dishes and utensils.
After some trial and error this past year, we recommend the following (or any similar ones) containers.
THE ATELIER
With the widely available COVID-19 vaccine, our guidelines have shifted to allow vaccinated teachers to see more than one pod of children. This means that our beloved Atelierista, Anya, can once again open the doors to our Atelier and have children visit her on a rotating basis.
FRITIDS
Our Fritids Program this fall will be held completely outdoors (rain or shine), the same as during the 2021/2022 school year. We have transformed our backyard to provide more shade, as well as shelter on rainy and snowy days.
Regarding teaching teams leading the program, we will continue to minimize the number of teachers the children come into contact with, so the Fritids groups will have a combination of a set number of Fritids teachers, in addition to our regular classroom teachers on a rotating basis.