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Veritas Academy During COVID-19

Our mission is to cultivate loving, serving, thinking students. We are glad to get back to accomplishing this mission in person. This year presents many changes and challenges to our school days, but we are confident that, with the creativity and wisdom of our school leaders, we will be able to have school together safely and joyfully.

On this page, you will find a hub of what parents and students need to know about our COVID-19 policies and procedures, including:

Quick Look at Our New Health & Safety Measures

Check out these actions Veritas has taken to provide as healthy an environment as possible this year. We are committed to the health and safety of our students while actively maintaining a normal and natural learning environment in which students can love, serve, and think!
 
  • Hired a Health Director and Assistant Health Director
  • Desk spacing in classrooms
  • Desk dividers 
  • Hand sanitizer available in all classrooms
  • Free face masks and shields for students
  • All new desks in secondary school to allow physical distancing
  • Extra cleaning and sanitizing measures in all areas of the school
  • Revised hot lunch program with all individually packaged items
  • Fun new reading center with physically distanced bean bag chairs
  • Two large outdoor tents for safe learning areas
  • Brand new health room with multiple quarantine cubicles
  • Touchless water bottle fill station

Health Related FAQs

Please direct any health or illness related questions to health@veritasacademy.com  

When should my student stay home? 

Answer: Please see the table below to help guide your decision.  At any point, if you are concerned about your child’s symptoms, we encourage you to reach out to your primary care provider for medical guidance.  
We expect that you will follow all guidance given to you by your provider.  

Symptom
Disposition

Fever 
(over 99.4 F by forehead or 100.4 by oral thermometer)

Stay home 
May return when fever is resolved for 24 hours without fever reducing medication 

Vomiting or Diarrhea

Stay home
May return when symptoms  are resolved for at least 24 hours

New, Uncontrolled Cough
(i.e. coughing “fits” that make it hard to speak, a cough that wakes them in the night, a cough that causes pain in the lungs, etc)

Stay home 
(consult your physician for treatment of a lower respiratory infection such as bronchitis, or for a flu or Covid-19 test)

Mild, chronic cough associated with allergies or post nasal drip 
(i.e. a cough that can be easily relieved by a drink of water or a cough drop)

May attend school. Wear a mask as much as possible.

Shortness of Breath

Stay home 
(Consult your physician as shortness of breath can quickly become dangerous)

Body Aches and/or Fatigue 

Stay home 
(Consult your physician for flu or Covid-19 testing)

Pink Eye
(This is not a symptom associated with Covid-19)

Stay home 
May return when symptoms have resolved.  

Headache

New and Severe: Stay home 
(Consult your physician for flu or Covid-19 testing)

Chronic and Mild: May attend school 

Sore Throat

New and Severe:  Stay home 
(Consult your physician for strep or Covid-19 testing)

Chronic and Mild: May attend school
(i.e. “scratchy”,  can be relieved by a drink or throat lozenge) 

Nasal Congestion

May attend school.  Wear a mask as much as possible.  

Green, runny nose 
(drainage typically becomes clear in 1-3 days)

Consider staying home for 1-3 days if copious amounts of drainage and a frequent need to “blow their nose”  

Clear, runny nose

May attend school

Red, Itchy eyes
(This is not a symptom associated with Covid-19)

May attend school

Sneezing
(This is not a symptom associated with Covid-19)

May attend school 

 

One of my children is staying home for illness.  Can my other children still come to school? 

Answer: This is a question that requires some discretion, so please do your best to think about the well being of others as you make your decision.  

Example A: A stomach virus tends to spread through whole families, therefore if one child has vomiting and diarrhea, keeping siblings home for a few days until symptoms have resolved would be prudent.

Example B:  In some families, one child may be prone to strep throat, but the other family members seem to never contract it.  In that case, the siblings may attend school.  

My provider recommended that someone in my household be tested for Covid-19.  Do I need to let the school know that they were tested and results are pending?

Answer: No, you are not required to let the school know that you or your student have been tested for Covid.  However, if anyone in your household is waiting for pending test results,  ALL FAMILY MEMBERS MUST QUARANTINE until results are received.  

My student or someone in my house tested positive for Covid-19.  Do I need to let the school know?

Answer: Yes, either the affected family or the health department needs to let the school know that test results were positive.  We will keep all identifying information confidential.  If anyone in your household tests positive, your entire household  will need to quarantine according to CDC recommendations.  

I am keeping my student home for the day due to a fever.  Will I receive recorded videos of class?

Answer: Class recordings are meant to be a stop-gap for students/families that have serious health issues and are taking a little time to get back to in-person instruction. They are also being used for students who might have an extended absence because of COVID or COVID related quarantine issues. If your student has a cold or is just home for a normal sickness, we will handle making up work the way we always have - Once the student returns to school the teacher will work with the student to get him/her caught up.


The Veritas "10 Reopening Commandments"

Here are 10 key differences you can expect this year.

a. Parent Drop-Off: For arrival when parents are driving or car-pooling, you will be greeted by an administrator who will smile, take your child’s temperature, and ask our three screening questions.1

b. Bus Arrivals: For those arriving by bus, students will be screened by an administrator at the side door of the cafeteria for grammar school students and at the breezeway for secondary students.

 


1 Three Screening Questions:

  • Does your student have any of the following symptoms?
    • Temperature 100.4 degrees F or higher when taken by mouth or 99.4 degrees if taken under arm pit or by forehead
    • Sore throat
    • New, uncontrolled cough (for students with chronic allergic/asthmatic cough, a change in their cough from baseline)
    • Diarrhea, vomiting, or abdominal pain
    • New onset of severe headache, especially with a fever
  • Has your student had close contact (within 6 feet of an infected person for at least 15 minutes) with a person with confirmed COVID-19?

  • Has your student traveled to or lived in an area where the local, Tribal, territorial, or state health department is reporting large numbers of COVID-19 cases as described in the CDC’s Community Mitigation Framework?

Assuming all is well, students will go directly to their classroom.2 Students should take all of their school supplies for the day to their classrooms. We will not be using lockers initially.

 


 2 If a student has symptoms or answers a question “yes”, he or she will be escorted to the Health Center for further care.

We will be keeping our grades separate from one another for much of the time. We are, however, encouraging our teachers to move their classes outside, to our tent classrooms in the courtyard, or to the reading nook in the cafeteria (when available).

At recess we will be assigning different grades to different areas of the backfield.

Teachers in secondary school and specials teachers like art and music in grammar school will be moving from class to class.

Most secondary electives will be taught via zoom. Secondary students should bring their laptops and ear buds to class every day.

There are a few secondary electives and a few classes in secondary school in which multiple grades meet. We are going to allow students from multiple grades to be in class together during these very limited times. If a student would rather observe class through our Classroom Video Feed, they are welcome to do so.

No mask shaming or anti-mask shaming will be allowed.

Be gracious, have fun...and welcome back to school!



2020 School Year Changes & Procedures FAQ

Answer: While we always want to welcome our parents to class, during our reopening we are asking that parents make appointments to visit the school. To schedule a time to visit please just call our school office and talk with Raquel Knapik, our Receptionist to schedule your visit. Parents will be screened for symptoms (just like all teachers and students) and will be encouraged to wear a mask in spaces where they are unable to be physically distanced.

Answer: We now have a touchless water bottle fill station near our cafeteria for student use! We ask parents to please send a water bottle with your child to school. The drinking fountains are off limits for now, but students can refill their bottles at this new station. 

Answer: You may send in snacks for classroom parties but we are encouraging you to send in snacks that are in individualized portions (i.e., cut or divided in ways that keep people from having to touch another person’s food).

Answer: Teachers will be reaching out to parents when they need them to serve at events. Parents are encouraged to be helpful. At the beginning of the year, we will be avoiding large events. We will, however, be having some of our great classroom events, but we might have to be creative in the way or the place where they occur.

Answer: While we will not be having our secondary trip to New York or DC in the Fall, we will be having some smaller field trips around this area. Parents will be welcome to attend and will be necessary for transportation. There could be limits on the number of participants depending on the destination. If you are transporting your own child on a field trip, then you would not need to wear a mask while driving, but if you are transporting other children, we would ask you to wear a mask while driving to the field trip.

 

Answer: Veritas Academy is going to be as mask free as possible while being safe. We will not be defying state or national guidelines but we will be fully utilizing break times, snack times, and times when masks impede learning or health. Practically, this means that we are going to be wearing masks when we are in public spaces and at any time when physical distancing is not possible. In the classroom, students will be wearing masks when they are asked to, but our teachers will be liberally using breaks times and snack times to maximize times when students can be mask free. During these break and snack times, students must remain physically distant.

Also, any students receiving support from the IU must wear a mask at all times when they are with the IU teachers. (This is an IU policy.)

Answer: Any cloth mask or face shield will be acceptable. We ask that the masks be free of logos and not endorse anything political, immoral, or grotesque.

Answer: We will be separating our students by grades at recess at the beginning of the year. The classes will be assigned an area of the playground which we will rotate each recess. They will be allowed to play freely, but teachers will gently request that students primarily engage in activities wherein physical distancing is easier to achieve .

Answer: While we paused all singing for the start of the school year, we are now going to allow singing outside, with face covering, for a short period of time. Current data still points to singing being an activity that risks spreading the virus, but one significant factor is the amount of time spent singing. The longer you sing, the more risk. So, we are still going to avoid classes that are based on singing, but classes may go outside to sing a few of their curriculum songs (like their history, grammar, geography and other songs).

Answer: For students who must stay home for an extended period because of health concerns or other reasons, Veritas will record classes and send the recording to students the next day, rather than livestream class. This will keep teachers from trying to juggle a real and a virtual classroom. This is not for students who are home sick for a minor illness. Those "typical" absences will be handled as they always have been in years past, and students can receive their make-up work from teachers.

Here’s how our online video content will work:

  1. If your child needs to be absent for an extended period (ie. quarantine or COVID-related concerns), please let Pam Carlson know by emailing her at pcarlson@veritasacademy.com.
  2. Mrs. Carlson will send you instructions on how to view the videos. (Please do this even if you have emailed someone at the school previously, but have not contacted Mrs. Carlson.) We will notify your teachers.
  3. You will access the recordings through our LMS system at lms.renweb.com. The district code is VA-PA. If you have forgotten your username or password from last year, or if you are a new student and need LMS access, please email pcarlson@veritasacademy.com. For questions or further clarification, please contact Mrs. Carlson and she will gladly assist you. 
  4. Please view this brief video for more information about accessing the daily LMS video link.

 


Questions or Concerns?

If you have questions, please contact a member of our COVID Taskforce


Complete Reopening Health and Safety Plan

For our complete reopening plan detailing the guidelines and policies in place for each phase of the public health climate, please click the link below.

Veritas Reopening Guidelines 

Want to Help? Veritas COVID Safety Fund

Veritas Academy has established a special COVID Safety Fund to which individuals and businesses can donate to help cover the costs of keeping school safe and effective in this unique environment. Find out more and donate here:

Veritas COVID Safety Fund