Upper School Campus Updates
Staggered Class Schedules (updated 11/20/20)
To reduce the number of people in the hallway during transition periods, there will be staggered class schedules beginning November 30th. These schedules affect on-campus and online students.
- 7th, 9th, 11th, and 12th grade schedules will begin at 7:55am and end at 3:25pm.
- 6th, 8th, and 10th grade schedules will begin at 8am and end at 3:30pm.
- Morning and Afternoon Carline Times are not changing.
Home Screening Information
Prior to sending your student(s) to school each day, please following the guidelines below to home screen for symptoms. It is important that symptom screening is done at home to better keep our campus safe. Please email Nurse Nolte (courtney.nolte@greatheartsirving.org) if you have questions about home screening or concerns about symptoms.
Locker Use
The staggered scheduled will reduce the number of students in the hallway by ~50%. In addition, lockers have been assigned to maximize space between students on the same class schedule. Students will be given a locker use schedule when they arrive on campus.
Classroom Measures
Each section has a fixed seating chart that will be used in every class to reduce the number of close contacts to any individual. Students and teachers are required to sanitize desks at the end of every class to leave the classroom clean after each period and required to use hand sanitizer when entering a classroom to reduce the number of germs being brought into the classroom at the beginning of each class.
Lunch & High School Lycaeum Measures
Students are expected to wash their hands with soap and water or use hand sanitizer on their way to lunch. Students are required to use sanitizer when reentering the building after Lunch and Lycaeum. Lunch tables are limited to four people per table and students must be wearing masks over their nose and mouth when finished eating lunch.
After eating lunch outside or during Lycaeum students will choose one of four zones—social tables, volleyball, soccer, and football—and must stay in that zone for the entirety of the period. Masks are required at the social tables. Sports equipment will be sanitized at the end of the period.
Mask Policy
All persons on campus must wear a mask covering both the nose and mouth at all times. Exceptions to this rule include when eating or drinking or outside and keeping a distance of at least 6 feet from any other person. This policy includes carline and parking lots. Masks should be a solid color or have a simple, tasteful pattern. Masks may not have any words written on them nor can they have verbal or visual reference to popular culture including decorative brand logos. Please visit the link below for the full mask policy.
Building Measures
We have day and night porters devoted to keeping our building clean and safe. Throughout the school day, our porters are circulating the building cleaning common spaces regularly. In the evening, our porters disinfect the building. In addition to our porters, we have hand sanitizer available throughout the building and we have installed higher grade air filters in the HVAC units.
Carline
The carline routes are the same as last year. You will receive carline placards with your student’s name and grade on it on the first day of school. These placards are required for carline every day, as students will wait in their 8th period classrooms until they are called.
Morning Drop Off (7:30 – 7:55 am)
The Upper School opens its doors to students at 7:30am. When students enter the building we encourage them to use hand sanitizer, go to their locker to get their books for the first period or two, then go directly to their 1st Period Classroom to decrease traffic in the hallways. High School students have the additional option of spending time on the Lawn before first period after visiting their locker.
Afternoon Pickup (3:35-4:00 pm) **Early Release Pickup 1:40-2:00 pm**
At the end of 8th Period, students will be released to their lockers to pack up for the day then will return to their 8th Period classroom for dismissal. To decrease traffic in the hallways, students will be released to their lockers in waves. Please encourage your student(s) to add materials to their backpack each time they visit their locker so packing up at the end of the day can occur more quickly. Teachers will also be encouraging your student(s) to be continuously packing up in this way.
Tutoring
On-campus and online students are invited to attend tutoring for each of their classes to ask additional questions or receive additional instruction on a topic. Tutoring occurs before school (7:30-7:55am) and after school (4:00-4:30pm) depending on the class. Please see the tutoring schedule below to determine when each of your student’s classes is offering tutoring. Online students can find the Zoom Link for tutoring in Google Classroom under “Classwork.”