Return to the ECU Community School
The ECU Community School has been preparing and planning for a safe reopening since the school closed earlier this year due to COVID-19. We are committed to ensuring safety and excellent academic instruction for our scholars.
This page contains information on how the Community School plans to reopen safely. Use the navigation links below to familiarize yourself with this content. There are also guidance documents and resources at the bottom of the page, including the Public School Toolkit/Guidance from the NC Department of Health and Human Services, K-12 School Reopening Guidance from the NC Department of Public Instruction and State Board of Education, and information on how to use Seesaw, the learning management system we are utilizing this year.
Click here to access the Archive of dashboard data.
On this Page
COVID Testing
The Community School is partnering with the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services to offer COVID testing by a state-approved vendor for the 2021-2022 school year. We are using MAKO as our testing vendor.
Scholars will need to have written permission on file from their parents and/or guardians to take part in ECUCS’s COVID testing program.
Benefits of testing:
- A testing program at school offers the ability for students and staff to have easy access to testing with quick results.
- There is no cost to families or the school related to the testing program, which is developed by the school to meet community needs in collaboration with the vendor.
- Diagnostic and/or screening testing are provided in a manner set by the school leadership based on the needs of our local community.
- The testing program gives families information about levels of transmission in our school.
Instructional Program
For the 2021-2022 school year, the ECU Community School is offering in-person instruction. Due to the small class sizes, our goal is to have face-to-face instruction all families every day.
Classrooms
All classrooms have the ability to stream and record. This will allow scholars who are sick or who have to be quarantined due to having COVID-19 symptoms or exposure to COVID-19 the ability to see live or recorded lessons.
Technology
The ECU Community School will use the learning management system SeeSaw for all grade levels to post streams, recordings and assignments. This is also where scholars submit their assignments. Since our school is also a 1:1 model, a laptop will be available for checkout for each scholar.
2021-2022 Schedule
- 7:15-7:30 a.m. — Scholar drop off/check-in
- 7:30-7:35 a.m. — Morning announcements
- 7:35-8 a.m. — ECUCS breakfast
- 10:30-11:25 a.m. — ECUCS lunch
- 2:30 p.m. — School dismissal starts
Physical Distancing & Minimizing Exposure
Physical distancing means keeping space between yourself and other people outside of your household. It is key to decrease the spread of COVID-19. Below are the latest CDC recommendations on physical distancing:
- Maintain a minimum of three (3) feet of distance between K-12 students who are not fully vaccinated within school settings to the greatest extent possible without excluding students from full-time, in-person learning.
- Ensure indoor mask wearing by people who are not fully vaccinated to reduce transmission risk.
- Physical distancing markers will be placed throughout the campus.
- Marking 3 feet of spacing reminds students to stay 3 feet apart in lines and at other times when they may congregate.
Scholars will be kept in small cohort groups that stay together as much as possible during the day and from day-to-day to minimize exposure.
Cloth Face Coverings
How to use face coverings
All ECU Community School scholars, faculty and staff members will be required to wear face coverings when indoors. As per the CDC’s order, these cloth face coverings must be worn by scholars and staff on buses, vans and other group school transportation vehicles.
Cloth face coverings will not be placed on:
- Anyone who has trouble breathing or is unconscious
- Anyone who is incapacitated or otherwise unable to remove the face covering without assistance
- Anyone who cannot tolerate a cloth face covering due to developmental, medical or behavioral health needs
Coping & Resilience
Helping our scholars with coping and resiliency through these unprecedented times is a continued priority for the Community School. We have a full-time Director of Integrated Health, a full-time school counselor, and a full-time school social worker on-site to support our scholars, families, faculty, and staff.
The Community School also partners with ECU’s Marriage and Family Therapy division. They are available to provide individual and family therapy to our scholars, their families, our faculty, and staff to talk about concerns related to COVID-19 and how they are feeling.
Cleaning & Hygiene
Cleaning and hygiene measures are critical to keeping our scholars, staff and families safe.
Hand Sanitizer & Hand Washing Measures
- Hand sanitizing stations will be placed at each school building entrance
- Every classroom will be provided with hand sanitizer
- Surfaces will be cleaned at least once per day. High-touch areas will be prioritized for more frequent cleanings.
- Good handwashing with soap and water for at least 20 seconds and/or the safe use of hand sanitizer that contains at least 60% alcohol by staff and scholars will be taught and reinforced.
- Frequent handwashing and sanitation breaks will be incorporated into the classroom routine.
- These breaks will be during key times such as: before, during, and after preparing food; before eating food; after using the toilet; after blowing your nose, coughing, or sneezing; after touching objects with bare hands which have been handled by other individuals
Monitoring for Symptoms
The ECU Community School will utilize a Symptom Screening Checklist for all scholars and staff. We will also conduct temperature screenings on every individual entering the school facility.
Parents/Guardians will be required to complete a Symptom Screening Attestation Form.
Note: A sample of the Symptom Screening Checklist can be found in the Strong Schools NC Public Health Tool Kit at the bottom of the page. A sample of the Symptom Screening Attestation form can be found in the same document.
Handling Suspected, Presumptive or Confirmed Positive Cases of COVID-19
Signage will be posted at the main entrance requesting that people who have been symptomatic with a fever and/or cough not enter school buildings.
Staff, scholars, and families will be educated about the signs and symptoms of COVID-19, when they should stay home, and when they can safely return to school.
The Community School has a dedicated space that will be used to place symptomatic individuals if someone begins exhibiting symptoms during the school day. This space will not be used for other purposes.
Scholars, faculty, and staff who have symptoms of COVID 19 should stay home and be referred to their healthcare provider for testing and care.
COVID 19 symptoms include the following: Fever (temperature of 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit of higher), Sore throat, Cough, Difficulty Breathing, New loss of taste or smell, Diarrhea or vomiting, new onset of serve headache, especially with a fever
Scholars who display symptoms will be isolated to a designated area of the school.
Symptomatic persons are required to wear a cloth face covering or procedure mask while waiting to leave the facility or waiting to be tested.
Symptomatic scholars will remain under visual supervision of a staff member who is at least 6 feet away. The supervising adult must wear a cloth face covering or a procedure mask.
If parent and/or guardian consent for COVID-19 testing is on file at the Community School, the scholar can be tested at the Community School. Results will be returned to the Community school within 24 hours of testing. Upon receipt of results, the Community School staff and the scholar’s family will discuss the next appropriate steps to keep everyone safe.
Quarantine
- Individuals who are fully vaccinated and do not have symptoms do NOT need to quarantine after a close contact.
- People who have tested positive for COVID-19 within the past 3 months and recovered and do not have symptoms do NOT have to quarantine.
- Scholars who are not fully vaccinated after a close contact in a classroom or other school setting if masks were being worn appropriately and consistently by both the person with COVID-19 and the potentially exposed person do NOT need to quarantine.
- The CDC continues to recommend quarantine for 14 days after last exposure. However, as of Dec. 2, 2020, the CDC has offered options to reduce the duration of quarantine in either of the following scenarios:
- 10 days of quarantine have been completed and no symptoms have been reported during daily at-home monitoring
- 7 days of quarantine have been completed; no symptoms have been reported during daily at-home monitoring, and the individual has received results of a negative antigen or PCR molecular test on a test taken no earlier than day 5 of quarantine
- If the quarantine is discontinued before day 14, the individual should continue to monitor symptoms and strictly adhere to all non-pharmaceutical interventions (e.g. wear a mask, practice physical distancing) through 14 days after the date of last exposure.
View pages 14-18 of the NC DHHS Strong Schools NC toolkit for more detailed explanations of quarantine and positive cases.
Transportation
All scholars, faculty, staff and adult visitors are required to wear face coverings when they are on the bus or other transportation vehicle.
Transportation vehicles will be cleaned regularly.
Child Nutrition
All of the scholars at the Community School will be served breakfast and lunch every day. All of the scholars and staff members will eat breakfast and lunch in their classrooms.
Kindergarten and first grade scholars will have their meals delivered to their classrooms. Second, third, fourth and fifth grade scholars will go through the cafeteria serving line to pick up their meals and take them back to their classroom to eat.