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St. Madeleine Sophie School Reopening Plan
Testing, Tracing and Remote Learning
COVID-19 Testing
St. Madeleine Sophie School will work together with the Albany County Department of Health and The Catholic Schools Office to practice and communicate protocols and safety measures needed in the case of positive or presumed-positive cases in the school. All relevant parties including parents/legal guardians, faculty, staff, students and the local community will be notified appropriately.
When referring, sourcing, and/or administering testing, the school will work with the following providers: The Albany County Department of Health.
Contact Tracing
The school will notify the state and local health department immediately upon being informed of any positive COVID-19 diagnostic test result by an individual within school facilities or on school grounds, including students, faculty, staff, and visitors.
To assist the local health department with tracing the transmission of COVID-19, the school has developed and maintained a plan to trace all contacts of exposed individuals in accordance with protocols, training, and tools provided through the New York State Contact Tracing Program.
The school may assist with contact tracing by:
- Keeping accurate attendance records of students and staff members
- Ensuring student schedules are up to date
- Keeping a log of any visitor which includes date and time, and where in the school they visited
- Assisting the local health departments in tracing all contacts of the individual in accordance with the protocol, training, and tools provided through the NYS Contact Tracing Program
If/when COVID-19 cases are discovered in the school, in consultation with the local health department, the school will do the following:
Close classrooms, buildings or entire campus depending on recommendations and input from local health officials.
Notification of families, including plan for release of students on site, to restrict further possibility of infection.
Protocols for returning to school will be discussed and shared with families.
Cleaning and sanitization protocols will be discussed and implemented with consultation from health officials
Confidentiality must be maintained as required by federal and state laws and regulations. School staff should not try to determine who is to be excluded from school based on contact without guidance and direction from the local health department.
For more information about how COVID-19 containment efforts will be communicated to students, families and staff members, visit the Communication/Family and Community Engagement section https://www.smsschool.org/domain/80 of our reopening plan.
Remote/Hybrid Instruction
Given the possibility that communities may experience spikes in COVID-19 cases at any point during the school year, which may prompt short or long-term school closures, the school has developed a hybrid/blended learning model and schedule that can continue as is in a fully remote environment.
Instruction will not only focus on “core” subject areas to the exclusion of elective courses. Consideration has been given to prioritizing hands-on and lab-based activities while students are onsite in school buildings. All instruction will continue to be aligned to the New York State Learning Standards.
As noted previously, student schedules will remain the same whether instruction is in person or remote so that students do not encounter conflicts wherein synchronous lessons for different subjects are offered simultaneously.
While recording of live lessons is still essential for students unable to attend at a scheduled time, teachers will ensure that their students are directly engaged with them and their class peers in experiential learning on a regular basis.
To ensure high-quality remote learning experiences, we will standardize the use of a single online learning platform, to the extent possible, and develop a common, coordinated set of guidelines for teachers to follow when using the platform with students. (Google Classroom in most cases)
Grading practices will follow a standards-based framework designed to provide direct feedback regarding students’ mastery of course content.
Completely Remote Learning (School Closure)
- Student responsibilities and expectations will be held to a high standard
- Students, teachers and staff will engage in daily social- emotional learning readiness discussions
- Curriculum will be NYS standards based and will be assessed and graded using appropriate rubrics
- All core courses will be taught by respective teachers and plans will include PE, Music, Art
- Teachers will maximize their instructional time by focusing on essential academic knowledge and skills to ensure students are fully prepared for the next academic level
- Consideration will be given to having teachers record all instruction for the benefit of parents/guardians who may seek guidance in assisting their child(ren)
- Daily or course specific attendance will be recorded using Power School. Students will be required to sign in or log on to their respective classes.
- Parents/guardians are encouraged to support the efforts of all teachers and stay abreast of their child’s engagement and progress
- Teachers are expected to communicate with parents/guardians on a weekly basis
