Lexington Public School educators have been preparing all summer to welcome students back to in-person learning for the start of the 2020-2021 school year.  During the COVID-19 pandemic, the health and safety of all members of our community is paramount in providing the high level of education our students deserve.  We have made significant modifications to physical learning spaces to increase the safety of our students and staff, and our hybrid learning model, including many new policies and procedures for learning, provides a balance between the necessary safety and educational needs of our students.  To ensure the fidelity of our plans, we need the full cooperation of our community.  Without it, we jeopardize in-person learning for all students.

To maintain the integrity of our health and safety precautions, we ask community members to commit to the following:

✅  Complete the daily wellness check truthfully on each of your children, every day before school at home. Staff will similarly complete a daily attestation of wellness. If you are sick, community members will stay home in order to reduce the risk of COVID-19 spread.

✅      Use the absent forms on the student’s school website to report all absences, as this is a very important component of our illness surveillance.

✅      Pick up students who become ill at school as soon as possible, ideally within 30 minutes for Lexington residents and 60 minutes for Boston residents.  Families will ensure contact information is up-to-date in Aspen and prepare contingency plans accordingly.

✅      Reinforce practicing good respiratory and hand hygiene, in conjunction with wearing a face cover and maintaining physical distancing guidelines.

✅      Limit out-of-state travel, especially prior to in-person learning.  When travel to a high-risk state is required, follow the state COVID-19 Travel Order, including quarantining for 14 days or producing a negative COVID-19 test result that has been administered up to 72-hours prior to your return to Massachusetts.

✅      Reinforce mask-wearing with all children, even those who are very young. Adults will model mask wearing for children.  Masks should be worn at all times while outside the home when six-foot social distancing isn’t possible or cannot be assured.  Families should emphasize with all children, including adolescents, that masks should be worn at all times when engaging with others, such as during sport activities or visiting playgrounds.

✅      Immediately retrieve their child if they are a student who does not require special considerations (such as for a disability) and refuses to wear a school-approved mask at school or while riding an LPS school bus or van.  Repeated instances will require a student transfer from in-person learning to full-remote.

✅      When choosing to interact with other families will ensure that safety measures are followed (masking, social distancing, etc.), avoid eroding the benefits of student cohorting in hybrid learning. All LPS community members will follow the CDC tips for safe social interactions.