*Update -July 30, 2020*
Dear Noah’s Ark families,
Thank you so much for your prayers, patience and understanding while you have waited for our reopening plan for the 2020-2021 school year at Noah’s Ark Nursery School. After reviewing the responses from our recent survey and lifting up many prayers on the part of the School Committee and Staff, we have finally come up with a plan. As a staff and school board, we have also held numerous meetings and feel that this proposed plan is our best attempt to create and adhere to safety modifications that are reasonable and logical for us, given the age range of our students and the nature/design of our program. Our desire is to implement additional safety and health modifications/adaptations with the goal that all students, families, and staff will remain safe and healthy during this upcoming school year, despite knowing that nothing is guaranteed.
First, we have decided to delay the opening of our school by a few weeks. Our Open House week will take place the week of September 21st to September 25th. In an effort to follow the guidelines of social distancing we are asking that only the student and one parent come to Open House. Your child will receive a letter from his/her teacher approximately 1 week before Open House inviting you and your child to join us. You will be assigned a time for your Open House day; we ask that you adhere to your scheduled time frame to allow time for the teachers to clean and prepare for the next group of students and parents. Please exit the building on the 4th Street side (next to Miss Cathy’s Office).
We are currently planning to open school under our traditional model, meaning your child would attend on all days scheduled for his/her class. We plan to use staggered entry times, as well as, varying entry points to the building. Access will be granted to the building after each person has their temperature taken by our no-touch thermal scanner, however, if the temperature is above the recommended level, access to the building will be denied. Masks are required by the PA State Department of Health, we ask that you make every effort to have your child wear one if he/she does not have a medical concern that would prevent wearing one (i.e., allergies, asthma, emotional, behavioral or speech issues). If your child chooses to remove the mask during our day, we will encourage reapplication but will not force a child to wear it. Additional cleaning protocols are in place and we will be washing hands three to four times throughout each day. You will be asked a series of health and safety questions each day upon arrival and will be asked to initial our form confirming that you can honestly answer yes to each question. Plans are being developed for dismissal that may include staggered times or altered exits.
Reopening plans call for parent meetings to discuss all our new protocols and to answer your questions about our plans. Once we have our finalized plan you will be contacted with the parent meeting dates, please continue to check your email, our Facebook and website for this information. We also recognize that the climate of COVID 19 is fluid (ever-changing), and that the PA health and education departments are still creating guidelines and recommendations. Therefore, we realize that changes may occur over the next month and beyond. Again, please continue to check our Noah’s Ark website, Facebook page, and email, to be informed of any changes and to receive the most updated plans.
We know this year will be a bit different but together we can make it a safe, fun and educational experience for your child. We are looking forward to seeing you and your child at Open House. If you have any questions please feel free to contact the school at 717-786-4919 or email us at: noahsarkqville@gmail.com
See you in September!
Sincerely,
Cathy Peifer, Administrative Director
And the Noah’s Ark Staff
Dear Noah’s Ark families,
Thank you so much for your prayers, patience and understanding while you have waited for our reopening plan for the 2020-2021 school year at Noah’s Ark Nursery School. After reviewing the responses from our recent survey and lifting up many prayers on the part of the School Committee and Staff, we have finally come up with a plan. As a staff and school board, we have also held numerous meetings and feel that this proposed plan is our best attempt to create and adhere to safety modifications that are reasonable and logical for us, given the age range of our students and the nature/design of our program. Our desire is to implement additional safety and health modifications/adaptations with the goal that all students, families, and staff will remain safe and healthy during this upcoming school year, despite knowing that nothing is guaranteed.
First, we have decided to delay the opening of our school by a few weeks. Our Open House week will take place the week of September 21st to September 25th. In an effort to follow the guidelines of social distancing we are asking that only the student and one parent come to Open House. Your child will receive a letter from his/her teacher approximately 1 week before Open House inviting you and your child to join us. You will be assigned a time for your Open House day; we ask that you adhere to your scheduled time frame to allow time for the teachers to clean and prepare for the next group of students and parents. Please exit the building on the 4th Street side (next to Miss Cathy’s Office).
We are currently planning to open school under our traditional model, meaning your child would attend on all days scheduled for his/her class. We plan to use staggered entry times, as well as, varying entry points to the building. Access will be granted to the building after each person has their temperature taken by our no-touch thermal scanner, however, if the temperature is above the recommended level, access to the building will be denied. Masks are required by the PA State Department of Health, we ask that you make every effort to have your child wear one if he/she does not have a medical concern that would prevent wearing one (i.e., allergies, asthma, emotional, behavioral or speech issues). If your child chooses to remove the mask during our day, we will encourage reapplication but will not force a child to wear it. Additional cleaning protocols are in place and we will be washing hands three to four times throughout each day. You will be asked a series of health and safety questions each day upon arrival and will be asked to initial our form confirming that you can honestly answer yes to each question. Plans are being developed for dismissal that may include staggered times or altered exits.
Reopening plans call for parent meetings to discuss all our new protocols and to answer your questions about our plans. Once we have our finalized plan you will be contacted with the parent meeting dates, please continue to check your email, our Facebook and website for this information. We also recognize that the climate of COVID 19 is fluid (ever-changing), and that the PA health and education departments are still creating guidelines and recommendations. Therefore, we realize that changes may occur over the next month and beyond. Again, please continue to check our Noah’s Ark website, Facebook page, and email, to be informed of any changes and to receive the most updated plans.
We know this year will be a bit different but together we can make it a safe, fun and educational experience for your child. We are looking forward to seeing you and your child at Open House. If you have any questions please feel free to contact the school at 717-786-4919 or email us at: noahsarkqville@gmail.com
See you in September!
Sincerely,
Cathy Peifer, Administrative Director
And the Noah’s Ark Staff
*Update-June 10, 2020*
As we navigate the ending of this year and start to plan for another year, uncertainties and information seems to change monthly, weekly and sometimes daily. We at Noah’s Ark are making every effort to make the best decisions we can to protect our staff, volunteers, and children when opening up this fall.
While the future is still unknown, there are some new things coming to the Ark! For instance, each classroom will be equipped with sinks with both hot and cold running water for hand washing, new snack procedures, and weekly staff meetings that are geared toward new safety procedures for opening up our school.
As we receive more information, we will be sure to pass it along, but wanted you to know that efforts are being made to open up safely and effectively.
We are thankful that we serve a God who has complete control over all situations and we are trusting him as we navigate these uncertain times.
As we navigate the ending of this year and start to plan for another year, uncertainties and information seems to change monthly, weekly and sometimes daily. We at Noah’s Ark are making every effort to make the best decisions we can to protect our staff, volunteers, and children when opening up this fall.
While the future is still unknown, there are some new things coming to the Ark! For instance, each classroom will be equipped with sinks with both hot and cold running water for hand washing, new snack procedures, and weekly staff meetings that are geared toward new safety procedures for opening up our school.
As we receive more information, we will be sure to pass it along, but wanted you to know that efforts are being made to open up safely and effectively.
We are thankful that we serve a God who has complete control over all situations and we are trusting him as we navigate these uncertain times.