Masks are optional for students, staff, and visitors when inside KIPP NYC school buildings or outside on school grounds.

Anyone returning on Day 6 after a positive COVID-19 diagnosis or after having COVID-19 symptoms without testing is still required to wear a well-fitting mask at all times on school property through Day 10.

Yes, all students, staff, and visitors will submit a daily health survey prior to the start of each school day. Students, teachers, and staff should stay home when they have signs of any infectious illness and see a healthcare provider for testing and care.

Daily temperature checks will only be conducted for staff, students, and visitors that have not completed a daily health screen prior to arriving on campus. If a temperature check is required, anyone who has a temperature that falls below 100.4 will be able to enter the school building.

We are prioritizing the emotional health needs of our students and staff with the same level of attention and concern with which we are prioritizing physical health.

We are creating a restorative model in all schools, increasing student opportunities to develop and strengthen social-emotional learning skills, and including circle time or advisory to enhance a sense of student belonging.

We have trained staff members in developing a trauma-conscious lens to enable us to be more attuned to student and family needs as well as building opportunities for resiliency in students. We are committed to being a protective factor for students as well as our families whether we are working with them remotely or in person.

Our social workers and counselors have participated in additional professional development to enter the school year well prepared to respond to the needs of students and families given the challenges arising from the pandemic.

Social workers and counselors will continue to work with families directly to support them in connecting with resources.

Students and families will have access to KIPP NYC’s Social Work and Counseling team to address social-emotional needs as well as case management and access to resources.

KIPP NYC has partnerships with Northside and Interborough, providing on-site, school-based mental health services to KIPP schools located in Brooklyn, Harlem, and the South Bronx.

KIPP NYC has a professional partnership with Headway and Ayana Therapy, providing both in-person and teletherapy services. Headway and Ayana each offer accessible, diverse, and culturally competent therapy services for our students and families. We also have a relationship with the Jewish Board of Family & Children’s Services for its loss and bereavement programs.

Our Community Resources page has the most up-to-date programs and services for students and families.

Daily student attendance has resumed as normal, with students being marked as absent if they are not physically present in school, with the following exception:

If students are required to quarantine due to exposure and/or a positive COVID-19 test, they will have the opportunity to participate in asynchronous learning and will be marked as Remote Attendance Present (REP). This will be determined by students’ daily login to Canvas.

In order to protect staff and students in our buildings, all visitors wishing to enter KIPP NYC (or DOE) school buildings must be fully vaccinated and show proof. Additionally, any visitor to the building must show identification and complete the daily health screening.

Exceptions to the visitor vaccine mandate:

• Visitors do not include students attending school in a DOE building, including adult students participating in D79, YABC, or DYCD programs.
• Any guardian needing to register their student for school may enter the building without showing proof of vaccination.
• Any individual seeking to get vaccinated against COVID-19 at a DOE vaccine site.
• The delivery personnel may enter the building to place items in a designated area without showing proof of vaccination.
• A guardian responding to a student’s medical emergency or crisis.
• Individuals responding to an emergency, including police, fire, emergency medical services personnel, and others who need to enter the building to respond to or pick up a student experiencing an emergency.

Onsite meetings and events for families are allowed; however, schools must adhere to all safety requirements and procedures.

KIPP NYC will work with the NYC Department of Education to ensure daily cleaning and sanitizing of all used spaces.

At night, our buildings will be disinfected using electrostatic machines.

Classrooms will be stocked with spray cleaner and paper towels.

KIPP NYC Facilities team will continue to work in partnership with the NYC Department of School Facilities in our co-located buildings to ensure proper air ventilation. Schools use a layered approach to room air ventilation (taking into account the room size, outside temperatures, etc.) that can include one or more techniques such as opening windows, adding HEPA filters (there is at least one in each classroom), opening doors, and turning on the fan setting in in-class AC units.

Yes, each school building has a nurse onsite throughout the school day.

We are using the same Alert Level system used by NYC.gov that tracks COVID-19 transmission and health care capacity in the city to determine testing percentage requirements. These levels will help us understand what precautions we need to take and how to best protect our school communities.

Level and Testing Requirements:

• Low- 10 %
• Medium – 25%
• High- TBD based on direction from DOE/DOHMH

Please note that this will be the general rule, but we may deviate from this in certain situations. For example, after school breaks, we may increase testing to at least 25% of students the first week back regardless of Alert Level. School sites always have the option to test at a higher rate than the weekly requirement rate. Staff may elect to be tested once within a month but should be offered testing on a weekly basis.

For more on COVID Alert Levels, please refer to this site.

Reminder: The testing program is voluntary for students. As such, there is no process for requesting an exemption. Families that feel their child cannot participate in testing for medical- or disability-based reasons should note that their child will not participate. That said, failure to participate in some or all testing programs could require quarantine for some students.

Outside of school, testing sites in your zip code (including Mobile testing sites) for children can be found here.

Additionally, NYC Health and Hospitals offer walk-in testing at a number of locations. Your local City MD offers rapid tests and PCR tests.

Student & Staff – Close Contact Quarantine: Regardless of vaccination status, students and staff will no longer quarantine if they are a close contact of a positive case – as long as they do not experience symptoms and participate in the following “test-to-stay” strategy.

Following CDC guidance, KIPP NYC will follow a “test-to-stay” strategy. In practice, this means that if there is a positive case in a classroom, students who were in close proximity to a positive student will no longer have to quarantine and will continue attending school as long as they do not have symptoms and continue to receive negative results from an at-home rapid test.

So how would this work?

• • Day 1: All students and staff who share a classroom with someone who tests positive will be notified and instructed to use the rapid test kit they were given to keep at home.
  • Day 1: Student takes rapid test #1 at home once notified of a classroom exposure.
    • Negative result: Student continues coming to school as long as the rapid test is negative and as long as they don’t start having any symptoms.
    • Positive result: If the test is positive, you should notify the school immediately and stay home from school until the school gives you instructions on when your student can return.
  • Days 2-4*: Student continues coming to school (if they have no symptoms and if the first rapid test is negative).
  • Day 5: Student takes rapid test #2.
    • Negative result: Student continues coming to school as long as the rapid test is negative and as long as they don’t start having any symptoms.
    • Positive result: If the test is positive, you should notify the school immediately and stay home from school until the school gives you instructions on when your student can return.

    *If a student starts having symptoms anytime in Days 2-4, student immediately takes Test #2.

Students who don’t exhibit symptoms and don’t test positive will continue to attend school. Close contacts need to provide proof of their negative rapid test in order to return to in-person learning (we will provide you with instructions on how to submit your results).

If symptoms develop at any time, students should take a test immediately and quarantine. Any positive test result should be reported to the school immediately.

Students  Isolation Period for Positive Test: The isolation period for students who test positive for COVID-19 is five days (reduced from 10 days). Anyone returning from a five-day isolation period should be fever-free for 24 hours without the use of fever-reducing medication, and their overall symptoms should be improving. Here is a step-by-step visual for this updated policy.

Fully Vaccinated School-Based Staff Isolation Period for Positive Test: the isolation period has changed from 10 days to 5 days. Teachers and school-based staff may now return to work on Day 6 after testing positive for COVID-19 under the following conditions.

Per State guidance, the positive teacher/school-based staff member must be asymptomatic OR have mild symptoms only:

• They must be fever-free for 24 hours without the use of medication;
• They must not have a runny nose; and/or,
• They must have a minimal cough only; cannot be coughing up phlegm.
• Symptoms must be improving or mild.

Quarantine is not required following domestic or international travel. All travelers, domestic and international, should follow all CDC travel recommendations, which include a recommendation to be fully vaccinated prior to travel and, if not fully vaccinated, to quarantine following travel.

Yes, we are requiring all KIPP NYC staff to receive the COVID vaccine. Many of our partners, from afterschool providers to related service providers, have similar vaccine requirements. The vaccine is not required for students to attend school; however, we strongly encourage all students who are eligible to receive the vaccine.

All students who wish to participate in high-risk sports must be vaccinated against COVID-19. High-risk sports are football, volleyball, basketball, wrestling, lacrosse, stunt, and rugby.

A COVID-19 vaccination requirement also applies to students participating in high-risk after-school extracurricular activities like chorus, musical theater, dance/dance team, band/orchestra (with concern for woodwinds), marching band, cheerleading/step teams/flag team. Students ages five and up must be vaccinated in order to participate in these extracurricular activities. This will affect all DYCD-funded programs, sports teams, and general after-school activities held by the day schools.

If you are eligible to receive the vaccine, use NYC Health’s Vaccine Finder to search for a location near you.

For those students who are vaccinated, KIPP NYC has developed a system where families can voluntarily upload student vaccination records. Currently, this collection tool has only been made to students 12 years or older. We will provide additional information on the voluntary collection of vaccination records for students ages 5-11.

Schools may take field trips across New York City and the tri-state area. Out-of-tri-state area school trips and overnight trips are permitted for students who are fully vaccinated. International trips continue to be prohibited. Future trip guidance is subject to COVID-19 positivity rates, variants, and continued CDC guidelines.

KIPP NYC will continue to collaborate with the NYC Department of Education to ensure that all eligible students who ride the bus abide by New York State public transit guidance and health protocols. Many KIPP NYC students, families, and staff use public transportation to travel to and from school each day. We expect those who take public transportation to wear a mask or face covering if it is required. Regardless of the means of transportation, we will require any staff member or student with any COVID-19 symptoms to remain home.