As Dr. Williams, BCPS Superintendent, shared we are pleased to announce a return to in-person learning. To prepare for the phased-in hybrid learning beginning on Monday, March 1, 2021, we need to gather some very important information from each family.

Several of you already completed a recent survey to let us know if you would like for your child to return to school in person two days a week (and virtual the other 3 days). This is called hybrid learning. Others indicated that they would like for their child to continue to attend school on-line five days a week with no in person learning. This is called virtual learning.

Students whose families have chosen hybrid learning (in person two days a week) have been assigned to one of two cohorts:

· Cohort A (in-person on Monday and Tuesday) or

· Cohort B (in-person on Thursday and Friday).

On the other three days, students in Cohorts A and B will continue virtual learning. Students have been assigned to Cohorts A or B based on your address. This ensures all students in the same household will be in the same cohort and it allows for efficient use of transportation. Students may not switch between cohorts A and B.

Students in Cohort C will receive full virtual instruction five days a week.

If we have not heard from you, your child has currently been placed in Cohort C and they will continue with full virtual instruction five days a week.

• All 3-5 families will have until Friday, March 12 to let their child’s teacher know if you would like for your child to return to in-person learning two days a week. (In person learning for Grades 3-5 begins after Spring Break on Tuesday, April 6, 2021)

Parents will always have the option to move their child from Cohorts A or B (in-person learning) to Cohort C (100% on-line learning). However, if down the road you change your mind and you would like to move your child from Cohort C (100% on-line learning) to in-person learning, there will be at least a two-week delay before they will be able to start in-person learning to allow for proper scheduling and transportation changes.

The Student Reopening Timeline for hybrid learning is outlined below:

The week of March 1 (Phases I and II):

• At Lyons Mill Elementary School, Kindergarten, Grades 1 and 2 will have to option to return to school two days a week.
• March 1-12, for K-2 the school day will run from 8:30-1:15 (2-hour early dismissal)
• Starting on March 15 until the end of the school year, for all students the school day will run from 8:30-3:15 (full day)

The week of April 6, 2021 (remaining students in Phase IV):

• At Lyons Mill Elementary the remaining students in Grades 3 – 5 will have to option to return to school two days a week.

At this time, your child’s classroom teacher will be reaching out to you to confirm if you would like for your child to return to in-person learning or continue with 100% virtual learning.

BCPS staff will be able to accommodate requests, make necessary arrangements and work with transportation (if applicable) to ensure a smooth transition back to school.

The schedule below is in alignment with the phased re-entry to school. Please use the schedule below to identify the date you submitted your request and hybrid learning start dates for students. The specific start dates will be cohort dependent (Cohort A- Mondays and Cohort B- Thursdays).

If you are planning to have your child return to in-person learning, we will also need to know how your child will arrive to and depart from school each day. Please choose one of the following:

· My child will ride a BCPS school bus to and from school each day. (One child per seat)

· My child will be a walker. (Students must live within the “walking zone” to be considered a walker. To ensure student safety, all walkers will be dismissed last.)

· My child will be a car rider. To ensure social distancing we will have three different locations for parents to drop off and pick up. Please see the map below and choose one of the following zones.

• Zone A - The main entrance. Enter the main parking lot from Lyons Mill Road, travel around the parking lot loop and turn right to exit on Lyons Mill Road.
• Zone B – Ballard Green Drive. Travel west on Ballard Green Drive. The pickup zone is located just prior to the circle. After picking up your child you will proceed through the circle.
• Zone C - Wilson Shannon Drive. From Lyons Mill Road turn on to Wilson Shannon Drive and proceed to the student pick up loop on the left. You will exit back on to Wilson Shannon Drive where you can turn left on to Lyons Mill Road.

Any changes to the transportation will need to be confirmed by the main office at least 24 hours in advance.

As we begin to implement our reopening plan, Lyons Mill Elementary will be required to follow five mitigation practices recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: consistent and correct use of face coverings; social distancing to the extent possible; frequent hand washing and covering of coughs and sneezes; cleaning and disinfecting; and contact tracing led by the Office of Health Services in collaboration with the local health department.

Parent visits inside of schools will be very limited; parents must have an appointment in advance. Whenever possible, we will conduct business using phone or virtual meetings. When in-person visits are absolutely necessary (for example to pick-up a sick child), visitors will be required to wear a face covering and confirm that they do not have symptoms of illness, recent contact with a person with COVID-19, or recent testing for COVID-19. We will structure all visits to ensure social distancing and avoid interaction between visitors and our students.

Click Here to begin the survey.