CMS COVID-19 Nuts-N-Bolts
August 26, 2020
Stay Connected to CMS
Website: http://cockrillms.com
Location: 1351 Hardin Boulevard, McKinney, TX, United States
Phone: 469-302-7900
Facebook: www.facebook.com/cockrillms
Twitter: @cockrillcowboys
CMS Nuts-N-Bolts
We will welcome students back for in-person instruction on September 3rd. There are new routines and procedures we need to learn prior to this date. The more structure we can provide, the more likely it will be that we can keep staff and students safe and in school.
Please keep in mind that we are planning with best intentions in mind. If we see that something needs to be changed, we will adjust as we go. Plans can look great on paper, and inevitably look different when you invite actual teenagers into the processes. We will also make adjustments as the CDC, TEA, and UIL guidelines change.
Please ask for assistance if you need further clarification.
Health Services (Nurse Jessica)
Cockrill Clinic Guidelines
Things will look different this year in the Clinic--new nurse, new assistant...and COVID. I am really excited to be here and ready to work with you guys to make Cockrill as safe as we can so we can open our doors!
These new COVID guidelines are put into place to keep you, the clinic staff, and the students healthy. All of the following is in the 42 page COV ID powerpoint you guys signed off on reading. I encourage you to refer to that when you have questions, as it has been updated since you first saw it. I know it is really long, but there is lots of good information.
The clinic will be available by APPOINTMENT ONLY. Please call the clinic when you need to send an ‘unscheduled student’ down--like fever, bloody nose that won’t stop, cough, etc. The nurse needs to have time to put on the proper protective equipment depending on what you are sending down.
Hand Sanitizer--please REFILL your classroom hand sanitizer from the stations around the school. Do not throw hand sanitizer bottles away! The district has TONS of sanitizer...use it wisely.
CLINIC UPDATES:
NEW CLINIC ENTRANCE!
All students will enter the clinic through the door in the main hallway. No student is to enter through the front office anymore. Students will be admitted to the clinic one student at a time. Students need to knock on the clinic door and sit in a chair/spot on the floor in the hallway. Chairs/markers will be spaced 6 feet apart.
Think of the nurse’s office as an Emergency Clinic this year.
We are unable to have any child “rest” in the clinic for menstrual cramps, headache, or anxiety.
You will be given plenty of band aids to give kids in class. Please ask if you need more!
If a student needs a menstrual pad, there will be a box just inside the Clinic, but you will need to call before sending them. Pads will also be given to female coaches, APs and Counselors.
When to send a student to the clinic:
Please refer to the ‘Student Clinic Visit Guideline’ flowsheet to know when it is appropriate to send a student to the clinic.
There will be a “hot” zone in the clinic where any student with signs/symptoms of COVID is isolated until picked up by a parent. Cockrill’s “hot” zone is in the main clinic on the cot closest to the restroom. If I’m taking care of a student in the hot area – I will be in full PPE (gown, face shield, mask, and gloves). If I don’t answer the phone - please be patient and call again in 5 min, or try the front office.
The “cold” zone or clean zone is in Nurse Jessica’s separate office area where there is now a cot for that use. Students who are here for meds or injury assessment will be directed to this office for treatment if they need to stay for an extended period of time.
Students who take a daily medication: We will set up a time that works best for the student and teacher, and make sure it is spaced between other scheduled students in the clinic.
These students may have to leave class early due to the need for only one student entering the clinic at a time and keeping a 6 foot distance.
Med Changes due to COVID-19:
No cough drops in the clinic.
No nebulizer albuterol treatments in the clinic.
Asthma inhalers must have a spacer with them.
*Every classroom needs a seating chart* This will help us with ‘contact tracing’ if a student turns up COVID positive in your room. If we know who was sitting near the COVID+ student, then it will be much easier to know who needs to quarantine.
Example – John Doe is in your class. He was in class yesterday, Thursday, but absent today. John Doe’s mom calls the nurse to say he has a fever of 101 and muscle aches. We don’t know if Joe has COVID or not. John Doe is seeing a doctor later that day to get a test. John Doe must isolate himself at home while we wait on the test results. John’s test comes back positive. The nurse needs to trace John’s contacts while he was in school. The nurse will need to contact every one of John’s teachers to see who he was within 6 feet of the student for more than 15 minutes. Then the nurse has to call those students who have been exposed and explain the need for the student to quarantine.
**Just because one child in your class is COVID+ does not mean your entire class will automatically be out in quarantine** We will quarantine CLOSE CONTACTS of that student only--wearing a mask will greatly reduce the number of students and staff we send home to quarantine.
What is a close contact of a COVID+ person?
Being directly exposed to infectious secretions
Being within 6ft for a cumulative duration of 15 minutes (after consideration of multiple mitigating factors, such as a mask being worn).
Limiting Close Contact in the Classroom:
Limit in-person group work
Limit time that a student is at your desk.
Follow the instructions that were in the PowerPoint regarding cleaning your classroom.
Frequent hand washing and use of hand sanitizer.
Space students out as much as you can-6ft is ideal.
Students wear masks 100% of the time
Wear a mask as much as possible--if you don’t wear a mask, make sure you are more than 6 ft away from the closest student to you. When you are speaking in front of a class, there are more droplets coming from your nose and mouth than you realize.
Do not let students touch pens, pencils, etc on your desk. Have them use their own supplies at all times.
How can teachers prevent being a close contact?
stay 6ft away from your students AT ALL TIMES!
Wear a mask at all times unless you are alone in your classroom or if you are able to be more than 6ft away. I would recommend wearing it 100% of the time when students or staff are present.
If you are eating lunch with your team, space out as much as you can because you won’t be wearing a mask. Even every other seat...remember, this is to KEEP US HERE! You can still eat together---just be mindful.
If you share an office with other staff members--wear a mask at all times unless you are able to stay 6ft or more away from them at all times. Leave doors open when possible to encourage air circulation.
Mask Break Area/Social Distant Area in your classroom
Set aside a spot in your classroom that is 6-10ft away (take a tape measure and tape it off) from all other students where a student can stand or sit on the floor and remove their mask for 1-2 minutes.
Make sure if they cough or sneeze, that they do so in their elbow, facing away from students.
This area can be where a student needing to use an inhaler with a spacer can go and do so without putting other students at risk, or a diabetic student needing to eat a snack.
If a student needs to use an inhaler or eat a snack due to diabetes, they can step into the hall and do so if it is not a passing period. Make sure they do not leave their mask off for more than a few minutes.
- COVID Updates
Things seem to change on a daily basis, so please make sure you are checking the Covid Powerpoint for changes and updates.
Employee & Student Process Maps (located in COVID Powerpoint)
Employees-Please refer to the Employee Process Map in case you are exposed to someone with symptoms, feel sick yourself, etc. This will walk you through procedures and what to do next
For your students--refer to the Student Process Map to know how to handle students who are sick or might report feeling sick during the day
There are still a lot of unknown and uncertainties...we will figure it out together. If I don’t know the answer, I will find it out and let you know. Remember--you are the example for your students. They will do what they see us doing. Wear your mask, sanitize your hands frequently, and stand 6ft away from them and your teammates! We got this!
Nurse Jessica
Cockrill Middle School Nurse
Clinic: 469.302.7906
General Procedures and Rules
Masks are to be worn by students at all times, except the lunch period. Students may remove their masks when seated to eat.
Students may not eat or drink (with the exception of a water bottle) in classrooms or hallways. Student should bring a water bottle that can refilled at the water bottle filling stations located on campus. Students should not enter the building with coffee or other drinks.
Third party lunch deliveries (Ubereats, restaurant delivery, etc) are not permitted. Parents may deliver lunch and place it on the shelf in our front foyer. We ask that parents notify their students if lunch has been delivered. Students need to pick up lunch at their designated lunch period.
Water fountains will be closed. The bottle fillers will still be operational.
Signs will be posted in various locations to remind students to social distance when possible and to use proper hand washing techniques.
Restroom capacity will be at 50%. We will use a QR code as a restroom pass and restroom capacity will be monitored. Teachers will be given this QR code prior to September 3rd.
Restrooms will be closed during passing periods, but students will be permitted to use the restroom during class. This will allow us to monitor the number of students excused from class to use the restrooms at any given time.
Hard surfaces will be disinfected daily during times when students are not present (lunch and teacher's conference period) Use Virex spray on hard surfaces (desks, chairs, other high touch surfaces). Do not wipe away. The spray needs to dry for 10-15 minutes.
30 hand sanitizing stations are available in high traffic areas around the building. Teachers should keep their small bottle(s) of hand sanitizer and refill from the large bottles of sanitizer located at these stations. Small bottles of hand sanitizer for classroom use were in the supply packs and have been delivered to the grade levels.
Arrival
Students arriving in cars, walkers, and bike riders will enter through the front school doors.
All 6th graders will proceed to the 6th grade hallway (downstairs) where they will be seated along the hallway distanced to the greatest extent possible.
All 7th graders will proceed to the two gyms where they will sit around the perimeter of the gyms and bleachers, distanced to the greatest extent possible.
All 8th graders will proceed to the upstairs hallway where they will sit around the perimeter of the hallway, distanced to the greatest extent possible.
Students who need to drop off an orchestra or band instrument will proceed through the back cafeteria doors and enter the fine arts hallway from the back porch.
Students who wish to eat breakfast will follow the procedures below.
Breakfast
Classrooms
Seating charts should be added to the Google Folder prior to Sept. 3rd. Mrs. Zornes is giving you access to this folder.
Lunch
Lunch for middle schools has one hot option every day and 2 cold options every day: a sunbutter and jelly sandwich and a sub sandwich. The cold options will be available from the separate grill area only, the hot options from the main lines only.
The streamlined menus should help speed up service for schools to offer more dining arrangements and flexibility. In order to focus on ensuring all students are fed in a timely manner, no snack or a la carte options will be offered for the first two weeks of in-person instruction. We will have only full meals available to pick up.
All the trays will be disposable and all the plasticware will be individually wrapped.
USDA policy requires that we must continue to accept cash as payment, but will encourage use of the MySchoolBucks online payment system to reduce time spent loading funds into accounts and reduce cash handling. In order to pull up a student’s account at the POS machine, we will enter the number for them on the computer to prevent multiple people from touching the same keypad.
Food Service Staff will wear a mask while serving and cashiering.
Here is a folder of lunch graphics you can use when we begin the blue/silver rotations next week. Thanks Spinnato!
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1O6pt0lciylZrDzzOp0ATJ5OKjCQmdOjb?usp=sharing
Hallways and Stairwells
All stairwells will be one directional as well which will avoid cross traffic and allow students to spread out on the stairwells.
STUDENT HALLWAY EXPECTATIONS
Students must follow one way signs. Students may not stop in hallways and must enter classroom immediately
First Floor
Counselors - monitor stairs for correct direction (UP ONLY)
Zornes - monitor hallway direction
Epperson - main stairs monitor for correct direction (DOWN ONLY)
Second Floor
Sanchez - on duty by Wandersee
Soto - monitor stairs for correct direction (UP ONLY)
Machost - monitor hallway direction coming off stairs
Teel - monitor stairs for correct direction (UP ONLY)
Herrington - monitor hallway direction coming off stairs
Click in map images to access PDF
Dismissal
Bus riders will exit the building through the back cafeteria doors. Buses will load from back to front so space is utilized most efficiently. Students will wear masks.
Car riders will exit the building through the main front doors. Students will proceed to the fire lane carpool waiting area (front porch) or they will cross the front crosswalk and wait in the parking lot line.
Students needing to take home an orchestra instrument should enter the fine arts hallway through the back porch door (they will need to go through the cafeteria). No students will enter the fine arts hallway from the main hallway.
Students needing to take home a band instrument will exit the building through the back 6th/8th grade stairwell and enter the band hall through the exterior band doors. They will then proceed to the bus line or through the fine arts hallway to the front exit of the building.
Student Discipline
GENERAL PROCESS - APs will come to the student
Ask student to wait for AP in desk outside room
Contact AP office - Teel will radio one of the APs to report to your room
AP will determine after assessing situation if an office referral is warranted
Consequences will be issued accordingly
AP office will not be available for makeup testing, time outs, etc.
LUNCH DETENTIONS (Susie to send out to staff)
OFFICE REFERRALS (Susie to send out to staff)
***No Tardies until we communicate that we are now issuing tardies
TARDIES: Students will not go to the office when they are tardy. Teachers will mark students tardy and Ms. Teel will run a report each week counting tardies. Admin. will handle detentions. A log will be provided to you for a student to sign in that they were late and acknowledged they were absent.Learning Commons
Notes from Lauren:
With our return to in-person learning quickly approaching, I wanted to touch base and let you all know what some of the procedures for the Learning Commons will be.
- We are asking that all teachers return their chess, technology, and learning commons passes to the LC before we return to in-person learning on September 3rd. We will have a basket on the desk that you can place your lanyards and passes inside. We are creating a new pass for this year, so if a student comes to us with an old pass, we will turn them away. Please return your lanyards and passes ASAP.
- We will only be reissuing learning commons passes to our ELAR teachers at this time. I will be reaching out to those teachers with more information on what library/book checkouts will look like later this week.
- Students are encouraged to utilize our digital library (Sora) to check out eBooks and audiobooks to read on their computers and personal devices. They are also encouraged to put books on hold through Destiny, our library catalog, that we will then deliver to ELAR classrooms
- There will not be any chess passes or technology passes issued to any teachers at this time.
- If a student has a tech issue, you will direct them to the Google Form found HERE or at this link: http://bit.ly/CMS-tech. I’ve attached a flyer you can print and hang in your classroom or add to your Canvas course on September 3rd. Students can fill this out or you can fill it out for them. Anne and I will be monitoring the results and calling students down to assist them as quickly as we can.
Counselor's Office
If at all possible, please have students fill out the google form (QR code) to request to see us. (Here is the link to our Request to See the Counselor: https://forms.gle/7LcXPp7gXxUkzBvF9) If that is not an option, please call Julie Dudek at 7960 and give her the information. We will call them down as we are available. (We will provide the QR Code/Google form to all of you in your box ASAP. It will be on gold/bright yellow paper, so that you know you have the most current one in your room.)
If a student comes by between classes (not preferred)- they should wait outside our main door until Ms. Dudek asks them to come in.
Unless it is an emergency, we will see students by appointment only. If you feel a student needs immediate attention, please call our office. (Do not use the google form/QR code.)