Q: Will students be required to wear masks?

A: We recognize that one of the single most polarizing topics of conversation right now revolves around the use of masks at school for your children. This has been the sole focus of conversation for weeks among our leadership as we struggle to make a decision that strikes a balance between being safe and being reasonable. Recognizing that the climate continues to change, below is our current philosophy on masks by school and other details that will be valuable to you as parents.

Preschool
Masks are optional for preschool students 3-5 years of age. Masks cannot be worn during nap-time. These masks may be of the parent's choosing. All masks except a buff type mask must be on a lanyard. Infants up to 2 years of age are not allowed to wear masks due to the risk of suffocation.

Kindergarten - 12th Grade
Students may come to school in any mask they feel comfortable wearing. The only limitation to this is that the mask must follow the dress-down day standards of acceptable apparel. For clarification, please reference your Parent & Student Handbook. Just the same with clothing in these scenarios, if a mask is considered to be in violation, the student will be given a disposable surgical mask for the remainder of the day. Those under 12 years old will only need masks for walking the hallways and places where 6 ft. distancing is not possible. Our teachers will help to clarify these times and places with our students prior to leaving the classroom.

Further Clarifications

• Decision-making regarding mask policy is strongly influenced by both CDC and AAP guidelines for the return to school. Even following the initial September 8th lift on a mask requirement, the Academy may choose to continue safety measures that include masks in the areas of the school mentioned above.
• Disposable masks will always be available for students who lose theirs.
• Lanyards for elementary students can also be of the parent’s choosing.

 

Q: What metrics are being used to determine the phase we are in and movement between phases?

A: The Hamilton County metrics we use are as follows: number of active cases, number of hospitalizations, number in ICU, number of deaths. The detailed numbers used for each phase can be seen in the headers of each phase of the Roadmap to Return.

 

Q: Orange phase states no more than 10 at gatherings, so how would we proceed with classrooms at that time?

A: This restriction does not apply to the classroom. It applies to common gathering areas where CDC compliance is not as easily monitored.

 

Q: Will students still have recess?

A: Recess and other outdoor times will be held in one of our 40+ zones.

 

Q: How are you going to ensure that technology issues of virtual students are not going to interfere with the learning of on-campus students?

A: Our IT Department is always available to help any student that may be having technical issues, whether it is with a device or login information just like they do with students on campus during the school day.

 

Q: If the virtual school option is chosen for the first quarter, how will SAGE be charged if we choose in-person attendance any subsequent quarters or go back and forth during the year? Will it be billed each quarter based on our choice?

A: This is a great question! Yes, we will bill this on a quarterly basis and will use your on-campus/virtual school selection to determine billing amounts.

 

Q: What are COVID-19 "symptoms"? Will all children be sent home for a cough or is it a fever? 

A: According to the CDC, symptoms of COVID-19 are cough, fever, chills, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, chills and muscle pain, sore throat, new loss of smell or taste, fatigue, headache, congestion, nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea. When a child presents with any symptoms, an evaluation will be performed by our school nurse. The school nurse will take the child’s medical history as well as current health state into account when determining if the child is presenting reasonable signs and symptoms of COVID-19.

 

Q: How are you keeping such a large campus so clean, with so many people passing through the halls?

A: Beyond the daily cleaning regimen by our teachers and staff, weekly deep cleaning of the entire building ensures the long-term safety of our students, faculty, and staff. This deep clean, which occurs each Sunday evening, is the equivalent of the cleaning practices used by Hamilton County public schools in the event they have a school closure. We have chosen to deep clean weekly in an effort to avoid closing the entire school each time we have a positive COVID case.

Q: What will SAGE look like this year?

A: Following discussions with Sage Dining, regarding minimizing expenses, Silverdale is able to offer a lower annual cost for the 2020-2021 school year lunch plan:

ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
Original: $720
Reduced: $520

MIDDLE SCHOOL
Original: $940
Reduced: $700

HIGH SCHOOL
Original: $980
Reduced: $750

Although annual costs are reduced, SAGE will continue to offer many of the community favorites! Daily options can include:

• hot menu items...to-go!
• pre-packaged sandwiches as a secondary option
• vegetables and fruits
• rotating pre-packaged salads and deli items
• desserts

While there will be no self-serve areas, SAGE is able to provide many of the same options, just fully-served and pre-packed to eat on the go!

In order to safely offer dining options, your child will enjoy picnics outside or creative lunch ideas in the classroom. We are looking to rotate classes in the lunchroom to give everyone some normalcy as we progress through our plan.

We need your help! In order to keep groups from congregating and the flow of traffic moving, we invite you to download the Touch of Sage mobile app for Apple or Android devices. SAGE’s app is updated weekly with menu items and will help your child know what to expect and what food items they want before walking into the cafeteria. Following these guidelines allows us to safely offer options and variety.

SAGE participation can always be discussed with the finance team. If you would like to walk through your options, please feel free to reach out to our Student Account Manager, Angie Howard at ahoward@silverdaleba.org.

 

Q: Will choosing at-home learning (virtual campus) have any impact on a student’s ability to participate in sports? If so, how and why? 

A: Students who choose virtual learning will have the same SBA experience as those students utilizing on-campus opportunities. Sports will be one of those unless we learn otherwise from our governing TSSAA.

 

Q: What is Ascend? Can you provide specific details on how this will be used daily for each student? 

A: Ascend (Base Camp Health) is an easy-to-use, mobile-friendly platform that will be utilized daily to track employee and student symptoms and get an evaluation of individuals' risk in less than a minute. This platform will combine reported factors with hundreds of other known risks to predict infection risk ahead of any confirmed COVID-19 case. Ascend will evaluate each individual’s risk, providing instructions to report in or to take one of several other paths back to health and peak performance. All faculty, staff, and students will utilize this platform daily before arriving on campus. Look for further information from our nurse, Anne Widener, concerning this new platform.

 

Q: How secure is the Ascend platform?

A: We are using Ascend by Base Camp Health due to their history of building healthcare platforms that meet and exceed the data standards we expect from a vendor handling Silverdale data.  The data itself is encrypted in flight (secure encryption in a browser same as your bank) and at rest (same as hospitals and banks use for storage); all while also abiding by all HIPAA and FERPA data retention policies. Simply put, Ascend by Base Camp Health was the most secure way we could enact campus access tracking during COVID.

 

Q: What if we choose in-person education for our children, but the COVID-19 situation worsens, necessitating a change to virtual education?

A: As a parent, you can make the individual decision at any time during the school year to go to virtual campus operations, however once you make that decision you are committed to continuing virtually until the end of that particular nine-week quarter.

 

Q: I was told there is an additional fee if you choose or are sent home and have to choose the online option. Is this correct? If so how much will the additional fee for online learning be?

A: No, there is no additional fee for virtual campus.

 

Q: Will virtual campus students be required to wear uniforms daily and Chapel attire on Wednesdays?

A: All virtual students will receive a handbook of expectations and suggestions to make virtual learning run as smoothly as possible.