Country Montessori School
Admin Corner
July 24, 2020
“Establishing lasting peace is the work of education; all politics can do is keep us out of war.” Dr. Maria Montessori
Upcoming Dates/Events:
- August 7 – Last day of summer camp
- August 21 – New student/new classroom orientation (enrolled on-site students only) Information coming
- August 24 – First day of school (On-site and Virtual)
- September 7 – No school, Labor Day
Dear CMS Families,
I want to thank all of you for your support and understanding during this time. With things changing rapidly, it brings all of us uncertainties that are out of our control and we are navigating through this as a community. Our first priority is and will continue to be providing a safe learning environment for our students, staff and families and adjusting accordingly to meet mandated guidelines.
CMS wants to honor our families who want to have their students on-site and we are committed to that. Currently the state mandate does not allow us to have elementary students on-site. We will be prepared to offer on-site instruction as long as there is no county or state order that prohibits us. In the event that we are required to temporarily stop on-site instruction, we are offering a high quality virtual option.
First Day of School Change
The first day of school will be August 24. This additional week will give the teachers and staff more time for planning, internal workshops, and virtual fine tuning. It will allow us to be as prepared as possible for a full-school virtual model if we are forced to pivot our reopening plans in case San Diego is not able to meet the requirements to come off the monitoring list as outlined by the Governor.
With the new start date being August 24, the last day of school will be Wednesday, June 16, 2021. This adjusted schedule will still give our students 180 days of academic instruction with attending three additional days in June and cancelling two previously non-instructional days that were scheduled in March for the AMS Conference. The 2020-21 school year calendar is available on RenWeb.
Early Childhood Program
Our EC classrooms, Ladybugs, Bumblebees and Dragonflys can remain on-site, as the EC program is under Community Care Licensing and as of now there have been no changes. The first day of school for these students is the same as the elementary, August 24.
Fall Before and After School Child Care
We understand that we have families that will need to utilize before and after school child care. Our goal is to offer child care for those families who will need to utilize it on a regular basis. To the furthest extent possible we will create child care groups similar to the consistent groups in the classroom. Families who plan on using child care will need to provide information regarding the time they will generally pick up their child for planning purposes (additional form will be emailed to collect this information). Our ability to offer child care will be dependent upon the number of families that will need to utilize it on a consistent basis.
On-Site Classrooms-Elementary and Early Childhood
Below you will see pictures of our elementary and Early Childhood classrooms that we have designed to meet the required criteria by the California Department of Public Health and the California Department of Education.
Classroom Environments:
- Stable groups (numbers to be provided based on enrollment)
- Classroom spaces divided by shelving or partisan
- Tables/work rugs spaced 6 feet apart and assigned seating for both (each child will have their own workspace not shared by anyone else)
- Plastic/Cardboard table corrals for tables of more than one student
- No apron/jacket racks
- Designated bathrooms
- Designated cubby space for lunches, work
- Student water bottles will be permitted (will be placed on their table)
- Each student will have a pencil box of supplies on their table
- Group snack
- Assigned lunch tables/seats-Rotation for elementary
- Utilizing outdoor learning spaces
- Designated/Rotation of playground
- Open windows
2020-2021 Fall Enrollment
If you have not yet submitted your re-enrollment packet or your fall instruction preference please do so at your earliest convenience.
School Health & Safety
Country Montessori School is committed to providing a healthy and safe environment for all our students, their families, our staff and the community. We are diligently working to ensure we are following county health, community care licensing and CDC recommended safety measures.
SAFETY MEASURES
CMS will be implementing the following safety procedures in addition to existing health and safety protocols:
- Daily temperature checks are mandatory for all students and staff before drop-off. Any student with a temperature exceeding 100 degrees will not be allowed to attend school that day.
- Stable groups of students will be put in place
- Teachers will remain with the same stable group to the extent possible
- Visitors on campus are limited and must be allowed in by administration
- CMS will follow enhanced sanitation practices and practice frequent hand washing
- Touch-free sanitizer stations will be in all buildings
- Staff will sanitize supplies and facilities throughout the day
- Daily cleaning and enhanced sanitation will occur at the end of each day with a focus on disinfecting all “high touch” areas
- Lunch areas for all students will be set up to allow for social distancing
- CMS staff will wear face mask throughout the day
- County regulations require children 2 years and older to be in the possession of a mask and to wear it when it is not possible to meet the 6 feet social distance.
- Outdoor space will be utilized as much as possible
- Recess times will reflect the same grouping of students
- Play structures will be phased in and sanitized (schedule TBD)
- Water fountains will be taped off
- All outdoor playground toys / equipment used will be sanitized regularly
- Parents who are dropping off at CMS will also be subject to a temperature check
- Parents will sign in using a no touch sign in with a QR code they will scan with their smartphone camera app.
- Parents who are dropping off must also wear a face mask that covers their nose and mouth
- Parents will be asked to initial a daily self-disclosure form
Daily Self-Declaration by Families
In an effort to protect the health and safety of our entire community families and staff will need to initial a daily self-declaration prior to entering the campus.
Cheers,
The CMS Family