Important Start of School Information

Dear Families,

We are only 2 days away from the start of school. Everyone has been working extremely hard to prepare to receive students both on campus and online. We are looking forward to seeing everyone very soon.

Thank you to everyone who joined us for our school-wide orientation on Thursday and classroom sessions on Friday. If you attended both sessions, you should be prepared with all the information you need for Monday.

Many participants mentioned that they had not received the revised school calendar. It is linked here along with the Family Handbook and COVID-19 Mitigation Policies:

• 2020-21 School Calendar
• Family Handbook
• COVID-19 Mitigation Policies

I will do my best to summarize some of the most important points presented on Thursday:

Morning Drop-Off

Students can begin to be received at 7:50 a.m. until 8:00 a.m. We are temporarily extending drop off until 8:15 as we all acclimate to the new sign-in and health check process. Ultimately, we intend on becoming familiar enough with the process to complete all student check-ins at 8:00 a.m, so please don’t arrive past 8:00 a.m.

Daily Student Health Screening

As part of our COVID-19 mitigation strategy, all students are required to complete a daily health screening before entering their classrooms. This is done via an electronic sign-in process using Procare Connect (formerly Kinderlime).

Account setup instructions have already been sent to everyone along with information on how to setup and use “contact-less” sign-in. Contact the school office if you did not receive or cannot setup your account.

Each morning at drop-off, you must sign-in your child(ren) regardless of grade level before they head to their classrooms. At sign-in you will be prompted:

Please confirm your child has not been in contact with someone who has had a COVID-19 exposure and has been free of the following symptoms for the last 72 hours:

• Fever of 100.4 or higher
• Chills
• Cough
• Difficulty breathing or shortness of breath
• Fatigue
• Muscle or body aches
• Headache
• New loss of taste or smell
• Sore throat
• Nausea
• Vomiting
• Diarrhea
• Congestion, or runny nose that is not allergy related.

If your child(ren) have been exposed or have any of the above symptoms they cannot be at school until the symptoms have resolved for at least 72 hours.

Classroom Access

Each classroom has a designated route for access:

• Bhakti Bhavan - back porch
• Audarya Bhavan - back porch
• Madhurya Bhavan - up the main deck to the front door of the classroom
• Krishna Sharanam - back porch

The routes are shown on the the campus access map.Students should only go to and from their classroom using their specific route.

Campus Access

For the time being, the school campus is only open to students, teachers, and parents. No visitors are allowed on campus during school hours.

Only students and teachers may go to classrooms. If you have to drop off an items, such as lunch, please bring it to the school office.

Playgrounds and other common areas are only open to students at their classroom’s designated times and are closed otherwise.

Office Access

The school office is open to all our families, though we must restrict occupancy to 1 family at a time. If a family is already in the office, please wait at the outdoor waiting area until they come out of the office.

Face Coverings

The other important part of our COVID-19 mitigation is the use of face coverings for everyone on campus. This means that all students, teachers, and families must have a face covering during arrival and departure from the school if you are outside your car.

Face shields are only allowed for pre-k/kindergarten students. Bandanas, wraps, or masks with a ventilator (commonly used in workshops) are not considered protective. The school office has a supply of disposable masks in case you need one.

Daily Schedule

School begins at 8:00 a.m. daily. Dismissal is at

• 12:00 p.m. Bhakti Bhavan half-day students.
• 2:00 p.m. Bhakti Bhavan full-day students
• 3:00 p.m. Audarya Bhavan, Madhurya Bhavan, and Krishna Sharanam

Our early dismissal day for elementary and middle/high school has been moved to Wednesday. On Wednesday students are dismissed at:

• 1:00 p.m. Krishna Sharanam
• 2:00 p.m. Audarya and Madhurya Bhavan

Aftercare

Due to COVID-19 mitigation, we are only offering aftercare to full-day students in Bhakti Bhavan who have siblings in other classes until their dismissal time (3:00 p.m.). We cannot offer aftercare services for any other students at this time.

The transition to on-campus schooling with COVID-19 mitigation or distance learning will be an adjustment for everyone. We are committed to make this as easy and friendly as possible but know there is a lot to get used to. We will all work together through this with patience and care.

Please reach out to the school office with any questions - office@bhaktischool.org or 386-462-2886. We are happy to help clarify anything.

Yours in service,

Visvambhara Dasa
Head of School