As you may be aware, Governor Jay Inslee announced earlier today a historic mandated closure of all private and public K-12 school in King, Snohomish, and Pierce Counties from March 17-April 24th, 2020, with all schools scheduled to return on Monday, April 27th, 2020.

As Public Health officials and the governor continue to emphasize, it is vital that our health care systems not get overwhelmed during this crisis. This school closure allows MCH and our community to play its part as global citizens in helping to slow down the spread of the virus. Simultaneously, we want to be supportive and responsive to the needs within our community.

Due to the recent positive case within our parent community, the fact that symptoms in young people are mild in nature and may not always be apparent, and the fact that we had over 32% of student illness and 29% of staff illness in our community last week, childcare will remain closed through Friday, March 20th, 2020. While we know this will be difficult for many of you, this additional time will allow us to determine what childcare can take place during the remainder of the extended closure.

The MCH Upper School will start its Distance Learning format this coming Monday, March 16th, and will now be extending it through Friday, April 24th. The Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) has stated it will be reviewing whether we will be allowed to resume classes on Monday, April 27th, and will communicate this accordingly.
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Please reach out to us if there is anything, we can do to support you as we all adjust and comply with this mandate. We will be sure to share any new updates as they become available and thank you for your support and patience in these trying times.

It is with relief that we share with you the following great news: the parent who tested positive has fully recovered! The rest of the family will remain in a 14-day quarantine as planned.
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News about COVID-19 (coronavirus) continues to evolve rapidly. Thank you for your support and encouragement as we monitor the situation and continue to monitor and evaluate our response to these ever-changing circumstances.

Currently, there are no new cases of COVID-19 among MCH students, their families, or our staff. We encourage everyone to continue to practice good hygiene and sanitation measures.

We are recommending that all members of our community continue to follow guidance for anyone who may have had contact with someone who has tested positive for COVID-19. This guidance can be found in the Washington Dept. of Health PDF on potential exposure, which is included as a link below:

▪ You should monitor your health for fever, cough, and shortness of breath during the 14 days after the last day you were in close contact with the sick person with COVID-19. Our school closure covers the 14 days since the family who was exposed has been on campus.

▪ If you get sick with fever, cough, or shortness of breath (even if your symptoms are very mild), you should stay at home and away from other people. If you have any of the following conditions that may increase your risk for a serious infection —age 60 years or over, are pregnant, or have medical conditions—contact your physician’s office and tell them that you were potentially exposed to someone with COVID-19. They may want to monitor your health more closely or test you for COVID-19.
▪ Source: COVIDexposed.pfd

Thank you for your patience and grace as we all work through this challenge together. Please keep me notified if anyone in your family begins to show symptoms, is being tested, or has tested positive for COVID-19. We assure you that your privacy will be protected, and your disclosure will help us make sure we keep our community safe and informed.

Thank you for your patience today as we worked with our attorney and Public Health to determine the nature of information we are allowed to share with you. I want you to know that I truly understand that it has been stressful for families to not know more specific information. These new rules may also feel confusing, when combined with our regular guidance on illness.
Per Public Health guidance and at the instruction of our attorney, we are required to uphold HIPPA privacy law and are unable to share which classroom the child is connected to.
We want to gently, yet firmly, remind everyone that this it is a parent in our community that tested positive for COVID-19, not one of the students. This parent has not been on our campus for several weeks and their child has not been on campus since last Friday, Feb. 28th, 2020. Additionally, no one else in the family has shown any symptoms of illness and are in self-quarantine for the recommended 14-day period.
It’s also important to remember the following already published information:

What to do if you were potentially exposed to someone with confirmed COVID-19

First, know that you generally need to be in close contact with someone with COVID-19 to get infected. Close contact includes scenarios like living with or caring for a person with confirmed COVID-19, being within six feet of a person with confirmed COVID-19 for about 10 minutes, or if someone with COVID-19 coughed on you, kissed you, shared utensils with you or you had direct contact with their body secretions.

If you may have had close contact with a person with COVID-19 but are not sick
▪Monitor your health for fever, cough and shortness of breath for 14 days after your last contact with the ill person.
▪Do not go to school or work. Avoid public places for 14 days.

If you are a close contact of a person with confirmed COVID-19 and are sick
▪If you are sick with fever, cough, or shortness of breath, even if your symptoms are mild, isolate yourself.
▪If you are at higher risk for severe illness (over 60, with underlying health conditions such as heart disease, lung disease, or diabetes), have a weakened immune system or are pregnant) call your health care provider. They may want to test you for COVID-19.
▪If you have symptoms but are not in a high-risk category, talk with your health care provider. They will help you determine if you need to be evaluated.”
▪Source: https://www.kingcounty.gov/depts/health/news/2020/March/5-suspected-covid.aspx 

​Finally, the Public Health number is 206-477-3977. Should you have questions about you or your child’s health please do not hesitate to reach out to this number and ask questions.

​We hope this information answers your questions.

First, know that you generally need to be in close contact with someone with COVID-19 to get infected. Close contact includes scenarios like living with or caring for a person with confirmed COVID-19, being within six feet of a person with confirmed COVID-19 for about 10 minutes, or if someone with COVID-19 coughed on you, kissed you, shared utensils with you or you had direct contact with their body secretions.
If you may have had close contact with a person with COVID-19 but are not sick:
Monitor your health for fever, cough and shortness of breath for 14 days after your last contact with the ill person.

• Do not go to school or work. Avoid public places for 14 days.
• If you are a close contact of a person with confirmed COVID-19 and are sick
• If you are sick with fever, cough, or shortness of breath, even if your symptoms are mild, isolate yourself.
• If you are at higher risk for severe illness (over 60, with underlying health conditions such as heart disease, lung disease, or diabetes), have a weakened immune system or are pregnant) call your health care provider. They may want to test you for COVID-19.
• If you have symptoms but are not in a high-risk category, talk with your health care provider. They will help you determine if you need to be evaluated.
• Source

We have added a more detailed PDF of what to do in the case of direct exposure to our website resources.

Thank you for your patience as we wait to confirm with Public Health, and for your grace in this time of stress.

Thank you for your patience as we continue to monitor and plan for the effects of the COVID-19 outbreak. Our leadership team has been meeting regularly to assess the risks to our students, staff and family community, as well as to continue to plan and identify actions that will minimize the spread of the illness. We would like to share additional guidelines and resources with you. Yesterday, Public Health officials provided additional guidance for reducing the risk of exposure and slowing the spread of COVID-19. At this time, Public Health continues to recommend that schools stay open, and we will be following this recommendation.

In this vein of being proactive and up to date, we have implemented a plan that incorporates additional guidance from Public Health officials. The goal of these measures is to minimize risk of spreading COVID-19, while having the minimum amount of impact on daily on-campus activities. These measures will be in effect through March 18th, 2020 and at that time, we will re-evaluate the need to continue limiting activities. We also acknowledge that this guidance may change with additional developments.

Starting today, March 5th, we are taking the following steps:

• Cancel all volunteer programs and visitations during the school day. This includes school tours, observations, administrative-parent meetings and family interviews.
• Postpone or cancel all evening and weekend events.
• Postpone or cancel all field trips.
• Cancel all staff activities.
• Postpone all professional learning which requires staff to leave their normal duties.
• All parent-teacher meetings will be re-scheduled as phone calls.
• Cancel all volunteer programs and visitations during the school day. This includes school tours, observations, administrative-parent meetings and family interviews.
• Postpone or cancel all evening and weekend events.
• Postpone or cancel all field trips.
• Cancel all staff activities.
• Postpone all professional learning which requires staff to leave their normal duties.
• All parent-teacher meetings will be re-scheduled as phone calls.

As mentioned above, Public Health continues to recommend schools remain open, and we plan to continue to operate with as much normalcy and consistency as long as we can maintain appropriate supervision and adequate services. Therefore, we will continue to hold student clubs, as well as before and after school childcare.

Here is additional guidance for individuals, provided by Public Health (resource links at the end):

• People at higher risk of severe illness should stay home and away from large groups of people as much as possible, including public places with lots of people and large gatherings where there will be close contact with others. People at higher risk include:
  People 60 and older
  People with underlying health conditions including heart disease, lung disease, or diabetes
  People who have weakened immune systems
  People who are pregnant

• If you can feasibly avoid bringing large groups of people together, consider postponing events and gatherings.
• All people should not go out when they are sick.
• Avoid visiting hospitals, long term care facilities, or nursing homes to the extent possible. If you need to go, limit your time there and keep six feet away from patients.

We recognize that while attendance is important, we also understand that families may consider keeping children home from school out of an abundance of caution. Here is helpful information to consider when making a decision about sending your child to school:

• If your child is currently showing any signs of illness, please keep them home and follow previously communicated guidelines. Please email the office if you are keeping your child home with signs of illness. Please be specific in your email about the symptoms you are seeing as we are tracking these. We particularly want to know of any respiratory symptoms (fever, runny nose, cough, congestion, sore throat).
  
• If anyone in your household currently has flu-like symptoms, please keep your child home.
  
• If your child is showing signs of illness and has possibly been exposed to a patient with Coronavirus, please keep them home from school and, per King County and the Washington State Department of Health (WSDOH):
  
• Contact your physician, the Washington State Department of Health (WSDOH) at 800-525-0127, and Public Health – Seattle and King County (PHSKC) at 206-477-3977
  
• If you choose to keep your child home out of an abundance of caution, please email the office to inform us.
  
• If any member of your household is at high risk from COVID-19 (elderly adults and persons who have underlying chronic medical conditions) you should consider keeping your child home.

There are several factors that MCH will use to determine whether a school closure is necessary, and this plan may change over time per the recommendation from Washington State Department of Health and King County Public Health and other agencies. Again, we will not close the school unless it becomes a necessity and as a last resort, as we fully understand the long-term impact this will have on many of our families.
In the event of an extended closure, the Elementary and Middle School programs will be implementing distance learning programs, and guides to how this will work for those different groups of students will be sent out to families immediately, should that become a necessity. Due to the hands-on nature of the Early Childhood and Infant/Toddler Programs, distance learning will not be an option for these programs. We have however been contemplating ways in which younger children can have a meaningful experience in their home environment and stay connected to the school community.

Students and their families can anticipate following daily instructional/open class time that mirrors as closely as possible what they experience during a typical on-campus school day. This is to ensure your child continues to receive the quality education they deserve, and that they are meeting the required number of instructional hours mandated by the state. Teachers will be assessing student engagement, participation, work completion and effort. However, please note that these guidelines are not intended to be a replacement for the high-quality Montessori instruction that happens in our classrooms each day. When students return to school, our teachers will continue to build on the learning that was occurring prior to absences or closures.

The following guidelines will help our teachers ensure students’ needs are met, and to make distance learning as accessible and comfortable as possible for students and their families:

• Lessons and workload will be appropriate for the student’s home learning environment and will be designed to be fun and interactive.
• Activities will be varied, creative and will incorporate kinesthetic movement when possible.
• Expectations of work completion will be tailored to each child’s needs and abilities, just like they are on campus.
• Teachers will be flexible and supportive of families as they navigate the challenges that arise from keeping their children at home.
• Lessons and workload will be appropriate for the student’s home learning environment and will be designed to be fun and interactive.
• Activities will be varied, creative and will incorporate kinesthetic movement when possible.
  
• Expectations of work completion will be tailored to each child’s needs and abilities, just like they are on campus.
  
• Teachers will be flexible and supportive of families as they navigate the challenges that arise from keeping their children at home.

For Lower Elementary students, teachers will communicate with parents on upcoming assignments through email. Teachers will also schedule planned video call time to connect with students on a more personal level. They will also be available during normal working hours to assist students as needed.

At the Upper Elementary level, students will use a detailed schedule, and will stay connected throughout the day with their teachers using Microsoft Teams. This software will allow students to receive assignments, video group lessons, collaborate with classmates and interact with their teachers in real time. For assignments, students will log in and use Microsoft Office software, and turn their assignments in through Teams or via email.

Middle School students will have a similar experience to Upper Elementary students and should be able to easily transition into distance learning, as they are already doing the majority of their work through Microsoft Office and Teams. They have previously practiced connecting with one another and their teacher through video calls in Teams and will follow a daily schedule with guidance. For assignments, students will log in and use Microsoft Office software, and turn their assignments in through Teams or via email.
For families where technology resources such as a home computer or internet access might be an issue, we will work to help these students, including possible school laptops being lent out, or sending students work via USB through the mail.
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*A note on classroom Montessori materials. There are, of course, many lessons in both Lower and Upper Elementary that require the use of materials. Teachers are working hard on creative solutions for how to mitigate the impact of students not having materials at home, and will ensure students are still receiving individualized, meaningful instruction while learning from home.

While most families understand, appreciate and are complying with the approach to exclusion to illness we are following, others have sought further clarification because we are accelerating vigilance in monitoring and enforcing these guidelines. I specifically want to comment on cough and/or runny noses as these symptoms are currently prevalent within our community and I have been filtering a few concerns regarding the exclusion vigilance of these symptoms and the hardship these restrictions impose on our working families.

We understand that young children often present with runny noses and that immune systems are building in the first couple of years of life, that common colds are frequent and typical, and that runny noses can take up to two weeks to subside. We also sympathize and appreciate that keeping children home for that amount of time is an extreme burden to families for a variety of reasons. However, these are the expectations and recommendations from state and federal officials, and we will be remaining firm in applying them to our community. Especially, given the fact that the surrounding local area is experiencing increased community spread of COVID-19, we will be rigorously applying these exclusion criteria and insisting on the abatement of ALL symptoms prior to the return to school. It is vital that we do this to slow the transmission of illness within our direct school community, as well as the greater local community.

This means that working families need to develop plans for managing exclusions and/or closures. Our priority needs to be in managing this current crisis and developing plans for crisis management as things continue to unfold. We ask that you respect the work we are doing to prepare our community, and that you adhere to these guidelines and please refrain from asking us to reconsider them.

To reiterate, if your child experiences ANY as of the following symptoms they are considered too ill to attend school and they must stay home until they are completely symptom free. We are being vigilant about this out of the need to protect the health and safety of our community.

• Fever: temperature of 100 degrees Fahrenheit or higher. Child must not have a fever for 24 hours before returning to school (without any medications to lower fever).
• Vomiting: child should not return to school for 24 hours following the last episode of vomiting.
• Lice, scabies: Children may not return to school until they have been treated. Children with scabies can be admitted after treatment.
• Diarrhea: more than one watery stool in a 24-hour period, especially if the child acts or looks ill.
• Chronic cough “and/or” runny nose: continual coughing and excessive nasal discharge. Conditions may be contagious and may require treatment from your health care provider.
• Sore throat: especially with fever or swollen glands in the neck.
• Rash: body rash, especially with fever or itching.
• Ear infection: with fever. Without fever can attend school, but the child may need medical treatment and follow-up. Untreated ear infections can cause permanent hearing loss.
• Eye infection: Eye infection: pink eye (conjunctivitis) or thick mucus or pus draining from eye.
• Unusual appearance, behavior: abnormally tired, pale, lack of appetite, difficult to wake, confused or irritable. This is enough reason to exclude a child from school.
• Fever: temperature of 100 degrees Fahrenheit or higher. Child must not have a fever for 24 hours before returning to school (without any medications to lower fever).
• Vomiting: child should not return to school for 24 hours following the last episode of vomiting.
• Lice, scabies: Children may not return to school until they have been treated. Children with scabies can be admitted after treatment.
• Diarrhea: more than one watery stool in a 24-hour period, especially if the child acts or looks ill.
• Chronic cough “and/or” runny nose: continual coughing and excessive nasal discharge. Conditions may be contagious and may require treatment from your health care provider.
• Sore throat: especially with fever or swollen glands in the neck.
• Rash: body rash, especially with fever or itching.
• Ear infection: with fever. Without fever can attend school, but the child may need medical treatment and follow-up. Untreated ear infections can cause permanent hearing loss.
• Eye infection: Eye infection: pink eye (conjunctivitis) or thick mucus or pus draining from eye.
• Unusual appearance, behavior: abnormally tired, pale, lack of appetite, difficult to wake, confused or irritable. This is enough reason to exclude a child from school.

Please reference the following resources used in developing these policies:
Lake Washington School District Communication 3/2/20
Lake Washington Guidelines for Keeping Sick Children at Home
Washington Department of Health Guidelines for Schools on Emergencies for Managing the Coronavirus

The following list of resources are the sources provided in the vast majority of news articles, and we recommend checking these pages out first. The pages listed should be updated regularly with the most up-to-date information.

• WHO (World Health Organization)
• CDC (Center for Disease Control)
• DOH-WA (Department of Health - State of Washington)
• King County Disease Control Resources