The Jeremiah School Board of Directors has agreed to the following procedures, taking in to account advice from the Tennessee Department of Health and the CDC; the policies of other local schools, both public and private; and the opinions expressed by parents and staff.

The Board will always have the safety and wellbeing of its families and staff as its top priority. The Board acknowledges that given the special population of students that the school serves, and our very small class sizes, Jeremiah School’s approach may differ from other schools. It is evident that students with autism are better served through in-person learning rather than virtual learning, and that sensory and medical issues can impact the ability to wear a mask. As a result, the Board has tried to balance the needs of the students, alongside the need to respond to the local effects of a global pandemic.

With this in mind, the following protocols and procedures will be in effect from August 16, 2021. The Board will revisit these as local conditions change, and new data becomes available.

• Masks : the Board strongly recommends the wearing of masks, especially for those who are unvaccinated. However, masks will not be mandated.  Mask wearing will remain a personal decision for families to make, given the individual circumstances of their child. Staff will not have to wear masks when teaching from the front, or when 3ft or more from the students. When working closely on a 1:1 basis, a mask will be worn.
  
  
• Quarantine : See the chart below for detailed information concerning what to do when a student displays any COVID related symptoms.

• • Parents should check the student’s temperature at home every morning using oral, tympanic, or temporal scanners; students with a temperature of 100+ are required to stay home and consider coronavirus testing if no other explanation is available.
  • Parents must immediately report any symptoms or positive COVID tests to the Principal and Executive Director.
  • In the event of a positive COVID case, only the affected individual will be quarantined, as exposure for others will have already occurred in the days before symptoms become evident.
  • All parents will be notified by phone if their child has been a close contact of a positive case. A follow up email will also be sent.
  • Parents may take the decision to quarantine their own child if they feel more comfortable doing so. The school cannot provide teacher-led zoom sessions to quarantined children, but there will be virtual learning tasks available through Google Classroom. Students will not be marked absent if they are engaged with learning activities at home.
• Other mitigation measures :

• • Continued cleaning and sanitizing throughout the school day
  • Use of hand sanitizer and hand washing at regular intervals
  • Visitors to the school will be strictly limited, and those that do come will be required to wear masks
  • Classes will eat lunches in their separate classrooms rather than the gym
  • Social distancing will be maintained as much as possible
  • School pick up will be changed so that students dismiss from their classes rather than the gym
  • The Board will investigate ways to improve the air quality in each classroom through modifications to HVAC systems and portable air purifiers.