-
CORONAVIRUS INFORMATION
All students are learning in person at Echo Horizon School with safety protocols in place.
Echo Horizon is actively monitoring the spread of Coronavirus (COVID-19) and will be updating this website regularly to share information about the School’s preparations and responses. Should you have any questions, please email healthresponse@echohorizon.org. We are also following the CDC and California Department of Health guidelines on responding to the virus.
The symptoms that are currently being seen with coronavirus (COVID-19) are fever, cough, and shortness of breath. If you experience the symptoms of coronavirus (COVID-19) or have reason to believe you have been exposed to coronavirus (COVID-19), call your healthcare provider before visiting a healthcare facility. Also check out this page from the CDC: What to do if you are sick.
Health and Safety
-
LA County Vaccine Eligibility
-
Cal OSHA CPP for Echo Horizon School
-
COVID-19 Safety Plan for Echo Horizon School
-
Carpool Reminders
As we reinstate our carpool drop off and pick up for all students who are returning to in person learning, we want to share some important reminders about carpool at Echo Horizon. Due to Covid protocols and staffing, all students must be dropped off and picked up through the carpool process until further notice.
Morning drop-off (starting on Jan 11):
Monday - Thursday: 8:30AM - 9:00AM (carpool only)
Afternoon pick-up (starting on Jan 11):
Monday - Thursday: 2:00PM - 2:30PM (carpool only)
COMMUNITY MINDFULNESS
Be considerate of our neighbors at all times. Do not double-park or block driveways when driving in the neighborhood of the school.
Drive slowly and observe all traffic laws and speed limits in our neighborhood.
ARRIVAL PROCEDURE
It is very important for your child to arrive on time for school, preferably no later than 8:55AM. Learning activities and classroom Morning Meetings begin promptly at 9:00AM.
Enter the parking lot through the Roberts Avenue gate and drive through the parking lot in two parallel lanes. Staff members will direct you onto McManus Avenue, and then to the circular driveway in front of the school. Staff members will be there to open car doors for the children (where we will check for health assessments and take each child's temperature). Make sure that you have placed your vehicle in park or turned off the engine, and that the children enter or exit only from the passenger side closest to the school. Do not allow children to enter or exit your vehicle without a staff member present.
DISMISSAL PROCEDURE
Please do not arrive to pick up your child before 2PM as early arrival creates traffic congestion.
Enter the parking lot through the Roberts Avenue gate and drive through the parking lot in two parallel lanes. Please post the carpool sign in the driver's side of your windshield with the name and grade of each child in your carpool. You will be directed onto McManus Avenue, and then onto the circular driveway at the front of the school. Staff members will be there to open car doors for the children. Make sure that you have placed your vehicle in park or turned off the engine, and that the children enter or exit only from the passenger side. Do not allow children to enter or exit your vehicle without a staff member present.
Alternate pick-up arrangements: If you make arrangements for your child to go home with someone who is not listed on your Transportation Form, you must notify the Front Office on that day, preferably by sending an email to reception@echohorizon.org. The person picking up your child will need to show a picture ID. If you use a child-friendly ride-sharing service, you will need to send a confirmation email with a photo of the driver to reception@echohorizon.org. The driver will also need to show a picture ID when picking up your child.
PARKING RESTRICTIONS
- There is no parking on Roberts Avenue.
- McManus Avenue has permit parking. Please be mindful of all signs so you do not get ticketed or towed.
- Please be aware of street sweeping days. Between 8AM and 12PM there is no parking on the East side of McManus and Roberts Avenues on Tuesdays, and on the West side of those streets on Wednesdays.
CHILD/FACULTY SAFETY
To ensure maximum safety for your children and our community, we ask parents and carpool drivers to observe the following procedures:
No cell phone usage is permitted at any point in the process of drop off or pick up. Please refrain from using your cell phone until you have exited the neighborhood.
Restrain pets that may be in your vehicle when you are dropping off or picking up children. -
Overview of Safeguards for Re-Opening Campus
-
Guiding Documents and Protocols from the LA County Department of Public Health
-
Health Screening
- We are and will continue to require families and employees to complete a daily symptom screening through our faculty/staff Titan HST App and for our families through Magnus Health. Parents/guardians will need to log on each morning to complete a brief survey as a health assessment. In the case that the symptom screening is flagged due to symptoms or possible exposure, the child or employee will not be permitted on campus and our nurse will follow up with the family as to next steps. Questions about the symptom screening results should be directed to the school nurse.
- As each child and employee arrives on campus, school personnel will take temperatures using no-touch thermometers. Child temperature checks will be taken outside in the open air. As per guidelines by health authorities, any child or employee with a temperature over 100.4*F will not be permitted into the building. Parents must stay with their child until the temperature screening is completed. If a child develops a temperature or other symptoms during the day, the child will be held in our isolation room under the care of our school nurse until parents/guardians can pick up their child. We ask that a parent/guardian/caregiver come to campus within 30 minutes of receiving our call.
- It is important that we work in partnership to mitigate the spread of the virus. In that effort, we ask that all community members share symptoms, exposure, and COVID-19 testing information with us, understanding that no one will be subject to discrimination based on their health status. We are committed to protecting the privacy of any person who tests positive or is suspected of having COVID-19.
-
Personal Protection Protocols
Below are some of the personal protection protocols we will be requiring for student and employee health:
- Require face coverings for staff and students. It is our strong recommendation that students wear a mask with a clear window to facilitate understanding for our DHH students.
- Require students and encourage staff to wash hands at regular intervals throughout the day, utilizing both soap and water and providing sanitizer when handwashing is not possible.
- The school will provide gloves on site and employees will use gloves around campus when handling shared materials.
- Our facilities staff and nurse will be provided with full PPE in the event that they are dealing with a potentially infected individual or cleaning a space where a potentially infected individual may have been.
-
COVID Compliance Team
- Our COVID compliance team is led by three staff members: our Head of School and our CFO who have assumed the role of Co-CCO’s (Chief Coronavirus Officers) and our School Nurse. Members of this compliance team also include all members of the Leadership Team.
- The Echo Horizon administration has formed a Pandemic Task Force in partnership with the Board of Trustees and invited medical professionals to advise on matters related to COVID-19 and on campus reopening decisions. Our Board of Trustees has members with expertise in the medical, legal, and public health fields. This Task Force serves in an advisory capacity, with all decisions ultimately being made by the Echo Horizon School Head and Leadership Team and the Chair of the Board of Trustees.
-
Hygiene, Safety, and Ventilation Measures (SSS)
- Sneeze Guards, Outdoor Classrooms, Electrostatic Cleaner, HEPA Air Purifier, Merv13.
- Presently we are asking families to drive only their own children to school - we are not allowing mixed family, mixed cohorts carpools.
-
Visitor Restrictions
- Campus will be closed to parents and most other visitors for the time being.
- In the event of a later arrival or early departure from campus, parents/guardians should head to the reception area outside at the front of the school where our receptionist will provide you with the support needed.
- All visitors or parents/guardians who must come into the building will undergo a health screening, a temperature check, and will be required to wear a mask and follow all posted protocols at all times.
- We reserve the right to deny entry to the building to anyone unwilling to abide by our health and safety protocols.
-
Student Support
- Our Student Support team, which is made up of our directors, our learning support specialist, and our licensed counselors continues to provide support to our faculty, students, and families.
- We have a three-tiered response for when a student support intervention or consultation is needed. Our first effort will be to provide the consultation via Zoom even if the child is on campus. Our second effort will be for our Student Support professional to pick the child up at the classroom and take the child to one of our multiple outdoor learning and meeting spaces. Our last choice will be to meet with the student indoors in a large, well ventilated space, rather than in a small office.
Communication and Response
-
Covid-19 Communication Updates
COVID Protocols Community Letter: August 9, 2021
COVID Updates Community Letter: August 17, 2021
Drive through PCR Testing with Brio Clinic: August 30, 2021
COVID Updates Community Letter: September 20, 2021
COVID Protocols Community Letter September 24, 2021
COVID Positive Case: November 6, 2021
COVID Protocols Community Letter: December 12, 2021
COVID Protocols Return to School Letter: December 31, 2021
COVID Return to School Letter: January 5, 2022
COVID Testing Update: January 6, 2021
-
Notification (our policy on contact)
Echo Horizon School commits to following the LACDPH Decision Pathways with regards to communication and notification. In accordance with Los Angeles County and state laws and regulations, the school will notify local health officials, staff, and affected families/contacts of any confirmed cases and/or known exposures and advise those who have had close contact to stay home and self-monitor for symptoms. Our nurse will work closely and individually with all families throughout the process. We will maintain confidentiality of the person’s identity in accordance with the American Disabilities Act (ADA).
-
Isolation
Staff or students who demonstrate COVID-19 symptoms (such as fever, cough, chills) while at school will be quickly isolated and supported by our school nurse or a designated staff member. One of our classrooms has been turned into our nurse’s office and our Quarantine and Isolation Room. This room has exits to the outdoor parking lot to avoid any return to building. The school will contact parents/guardians, who are expected to come within 30 minutes and ensure the safe transport of the sick person either home or to a healthcare facility. The areas used by the sick person will be closed off and not used until proper cleaning and disinfection can take place, following LACDPH guidelines.
-
Response to Positive Case
If there is a positive case on campus, the parent/guardian/family of the student or the employee who has tested positive will be immediately contacted by our school nurse and given Home Isolation instructions per the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (LACDPH) Health Officer Order. The nurse will work with the appropriate community members to identify close contacts of the positive case and provide them with Home Quarantine instructions per the LACDPH. The school will work with the LACDPH, and if deemed necessary, on-campus learning will be suspended and impacted students will switch to the remote learning platform for the period of time as advised by public health officials.
How to Talk to Children About Coronavirus
-
Tips
-
Explaining What Coronavirus Is
- Parenting and Coronavirus Webinar (Authors Julie Lythcott-Haims, Cara Natterson, Lori Gottlieb, Tina Payne Bryson, Katherine Reynolds Lewis, and Deborah Reber give advice on parenting in the coronavirus era)
- “Schools Are Closing for Coronavirus. Now What?” The New York Times, March 10, 2020.
- “Teaching Kids Media Smarts During Breaking News,” Commonsense Media
- “Working from Home with Kids: Tips for Families During Social Distancing/Self Quarantine,” Medium.com, March 14, 2020.
-
Addressing Concerns About Coronavirus
- “Schools Are Closing for Coronavirus. Now What?” The New York Times, March 10, 2020.
- “Teaching Kids Media Smarts During Breaking News,” Commonsense Media
- “Working from Home with Kids: Tips for Families During Social Distancing/Self Quarantine,” Medium.com, March 14, 2020.
-
Addressing Racism and Stigma Around Coronavirus
- Echo Horizon School
- Coronavirus Information