Lancaster Mennonite School
General Waiver and Protocol
August 2020-2021
**All Precautions will be covered in Orientation at each campus for specific details.
Dear Students and Parents:
We are eager to welcome you all back to school. However, we also are aware that this year presents challenges and the need for precautions and flexibility. I want to share with you what LMS is doing to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 and to also provide our expectations of students and parents during this school year.
LMS Safety Precautions
- Classrooms are reasonably distanced where possible.
- Chapel, lunch, and advisory periods will be combined for HS students. Students will be eating in classrooms after receiving their lunch in the food service area. Desks will be disinfected before and after eating and students will wash hands before and after eating.
- Elementary students will continue to eat in their classrooms. Their food will be delivered to their room. Desks will be disinfected before and after eating and students will wash hands before and after eating.
- Elementary and middle school chapel will be streamed to classrooms or held outside.
- We are encouraging classes to go outside when possible. For elementary this means 3 times per day.
- High school students dismissal from classes will be staggered in the HS. Elementary teachers will guide students through the hallways.
- Teachers will wear masks and or shields unless alone in their room or outside.
- LM buses/vans will not be able to social distance at all times and students bussed by other school districts will follow district protocol.
- Staff will monitor their temperatures prior to coming to school unless we have an infection, then they will be monitored at school.
- Classrooms, bathrooms, high touch surfaces, gyms and common areas will be sanitized daily.
- Staff will be required to stay home if they are ill.
- Hand sanitizer dispensers or sinks will be found in every room.
- Fountains will be shut off and water bottle filling stations will be available.
- Procedures are in place to minimize supply sharing at the elementary level, such as students carrying their own chairs and personal supply bags to specials classes and keeping supplies in personal boxes.
- Teachers will clean and sanitize their classrooms throughout the day.
- Elementary students will be given frequent handwashing breaks, and teachers will model proper hygiene and safety protocols regularly.
LMS Student Expectations
- Students are required to wear masks unless they are appropriately distanced. (more than 6 feet) outside or eating.
- Students will follow seating charts on buses and in classrooms.
- Students will be expected to wash hands and use sanitizer regularly throughout the day.
- Student temperatures will be taken at the (LM) bus or at identified school entrances.
- If students are ill, they are required to stay home.
If the student or anyone in your house experiences the following symptoms they should not report to school:
- Temperature of more than 100.4.
- Coughing or shortness of breath
- Loss of smell and taste
- Headaches
- Nausea
- Diarrhea
- Vomiting
If a student is not able to report to school because of the need to quarantine, LMS will work with the parents and the student to ensure that the student is provided appropriate assignments and support while they are unable to attend.
Consent
While we are taking the above precautions, there remains risk in sending your child to school. The precautions are in place to mitigate exposure to Covid-19, but it does not eliminate this possibility. You as parent and guardian accept these risks on behalf of yourselves and your child and agree to hold the school harmless when you send your child to LMS.