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Health Guidelines

General Guidelines

Returning to campus during a global pandemic represents a new challenge for the Belmont Hill community, yet we will continue to be guided by our mission focused upon character and our culture of working together. While there is no return-to-school plan that can eliminate all risk related to COVID-19, our goal is to provide the safest possible scenario to offer our boys in-person learning opportunities to start the year. This involves sacrifices and partnership from our students, their families, and from our faculty and staff. Just as we valued iteration and feedback during remote learning last spring, we must be flexible and adaptable this fall.

The plan outlined in Working Together for a Safe Belmont Hill is the result of many Belmont Hill minds, supported by numerous external experts, working to balance our desire to be back on campus this fall along with our primary commitment to safety. We believe that we have covered the majority of relevant issues for our families, but we will continue to add and refine in the weeks leading up to the opening of school. Additionally, we have the good fortune of strong financial resources to make smart investments in support of our efforts. It is important to acknowledge that within our community, there is a wide range of perspectives as well as risk tolerance. Working Together for a Safe Belmont Hill is grounded on a premise that we seek to make Belmont Hill work well for this entire range of viewpoints if at all possible. Therefore, we have created a model that provides a positive experience for students and faculty who need to remain in a remote-learning environment. Additionally, we intend to support a social climate on campus that is equally supportive of all family choices during this challenging time. We look forward to entering the school year with such a strong and committed community of Belmont Hill families.
 

Belmont Hill School has developed the following guidelines and protocols to prepare for an intended return to campus in the fall. Beyond the use of guidelines provided by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), we have been in continual communication with the Belmont Board of Health and medical professionals while also partnering with a number of external consultants to assist with protocols and procedures. Specifically, we have engaged with the consulting group Fusion Cell, a firm that has taken deep experience from pandemic planning on military bases and transferred this expertise to schools. In addition, we commissioned an audit of the HVAC systems in all campus buildings and made improvements to ensure they were operating in accordance with guidelines from the American Society of Heating, Refrigeration, and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE). This included the addition of portable medical grade HEPA filters where necessary. Finally, Working Together for a Safe Belmont Hill was reviewed by our consulting pediatrician as well as the Chief Medical Officer affiliated with Boston Children’s Hospital.

Mask-Wearing Requirements

Universal mask wearing continues to be the most effective way to minimize the spread of COVID-19. All faculty, staff, and students will wear masks while indoors or on any form of school transportation. Masks will only be removed outdoors when adequate social distancing is possible. Face masks should fit securely under the chin and over the nose and mouth, while also fitting snugly to the sides of the face. Individuals alone in rooms are allowed to remove masks but need to put them on before anyone enters the room. Mask breaks will be included in the daily schedule and will take place outdoors when social-distance requirements can be met.
 

Belmont Hill will supply two (2) school-approved 3-ply masks to each student and employee. Additional masks may be purchased at the school store. These masks comply with the World Health Organization guidelines. Face shields are not an approved substitute for a mask. Anyone who wishes to wear a different mask other than the ones supplied by Belmont Hill must have it approved by the Health Office. The goal is to ensure that every mask on campus complies with expected health and safety guidelines. Disposable masks will be on hand in the Health Office as needed for emergency use if a student forgets his mask or it is soiled during the school day.
 

Masks are to be washed daily with soap and water and a clean mask should be worn each day. Boarding students may wash their masks with soap and water and hang to dry in their room. Disinfectants should not be sprayed onto the mask, as they may cause respiratory symptoms. Click here for CDC guidelines on washing and wearing and removing face masks.

Daily Health Screening

Before leaving home EACH DAY, all students will be required to fill out and submit a daily health screening that will be made available through a mobile app (details forthcoming). Families must be collaborative partners in this process in order to keep our community as safe as possible. If a student arrives at school without having completed the daily health screening, they will not be permitted to enter the campus until it has been completed. Members of the Belmont Hill staff will be on hand to assist in this process. All faculty and staff will also be required to complete the daily health screening each day before they arrive on campus as will other visitors.

Social/Physical Distancing

We will maintain a minimum of six-feet distancing in our learning and community spaces. In all other locations, six-feet distancing will be maintained when possible. One-way foot traffic and doors marked “enter only” and “exit only” will also be observed.

Hand Hygiene

Hands should be washed with soap and water before leaving for school. In addition, hands should be washed frequently throughout the day. In the absence of soap and water, hand sanitizer can be used. All members of the Belmont Hill community are required to exercise hand hygiene (hand washing or sanitizing) before arrival to school, upon entering and departing a classroom, before eating, before putting on and taking off masks, and before dismissal. When hand-washing, individuals should use soap and water to wash all surfaces of their hands for at least 20 seconds, wait for visible lather, and rinse thoroughly. If hand-washing is not feasible, hand sanitizer with at least 60 percent alcohol will be available throughout campus.

Bathroom Use

Bathrooms will be labeled as to the number of occupants allowed in the space at a given time. Floor markings will indicate where students should wait socially distanced. Hand washing is critical after bathroom use in all cases. Lids have been installed on all toilets across campus, and lids should always be closed before flushing. Directions will be included in signage located in the bathrooms.

Campus Cleaning

To maintain a healthy environment, Belmont Hill will implement increased cleaning strategies throughout campus to clean and disinfect frequently touched surfaces. Bathrooms will be cleaned a minimum of twice per day. In addition to daily protocols, deep cleaning will take place on remote-learning days (academic day protocols are detailed below) as well as on the weekends. Students and faculty will be required to sanitize their workspace whenever they transition to a new space, or use any shared equipment (printers, copiers, etc.). Appropriate supplies will be available for this purpose.

Visitors to Campus

In order to limit the exposure of the virus to our community, no visitors shall come to campus until screened and monitored by school staff. Families should communicate with the School via email, phone calls, or Zoom conferencing, and avoid entering school buildings. Parents/guardians should remain in their vehicles at all times during arrival and dismissal.

Off-Campus Activities

In order to keep our community safe and our campus open for learning, we are expecting partnership from all of our boys and families in considering their behavior while not on campus. As a day school, it is impossible for us to patrol every decision a family makes, and yet every decision a family makes has a potential impact upon the safety of our entire community. We are asking that all activities that our boys engage in outside of campus meet the spirit and expectations of our guidelines on campus. This includes social gatherings, club and town sports, and other activities that have the potential for contact with larger groups outside of our community. Whenever there is a question of symptoms or exposure risk, families should always err on the side of keeping boys at home and learning remotely. We encourage families to reach out to the Health Office if there is ever any doubt or question about these activities.

Academic Day Protocols

School Calendar

We have decided to move forward with our traditional school calendar at this time, knowing that the possibility of adjustments later in the year could be possible as more information is available. The only scheduled exception to this is a decision to start orientation a few days earlier to create more time for these important events.

  • Orientation will begin on August 27 and 28 and will be divided into smaller groups;
  • Acclimation will remain August 31 and
  • Classes will begin on September 1.

 

Academic Schedule

We have devised a schedule that will accommodate learning models that would be effective in three critical scenarios: first with the full student population on campus four days a week, second in a fully remote paradigm, or third in a split-school model where the Upper School would generally attend Mondays and Thursdays and the Middle School would generally attend Tuesdays and Fridays. Students would attend classes virtually on the days they are not on campus in the split-school model. Whether or not the entire student body is on campus on a given day, all distancing will be at six feet for maximum safety. Other schools may be forced to split their student populations purely based on facility constraints, but we are fortunate to have a campus that affords us with the ability to maximize in-person learning in a safely distanced manner. In addition to utilizing non-traditional classroom spaces, we will be adding a number of tents to campus.
 

While our goal is to maximize as much on campus learning as is safely possible, we will officially determine our opening day scenario the week of August 17 with even better data about our own infrastructure, new guidelines that we know are forthcoming, and the most current data about the pandemic in our region. Our full-school model will include four days of in-person learning with Wednesday slated as a remote-learning day. This will allow students to acclimate to distanced learning right at the beginning of the school year and will also provide an important midweek opportunity for the deep cleaning of classrooms and shared campus spaces. In a week where there is a Monday holiday, we may choose to adjust the Wednesday schedule to optimize learning outcomes, but we will still be learning remotely. The schedule has been designed to serve the dual goals of maximizing student and faculty safety while providing a robust teaching and learning environment. Courses will be scheduled to meet (either in person or remotely) three times per week, with one 40-minute block and two 75-minute blocks, thus minimizing the number of class transitions students make per day and limiting the amount of student travel within the School on a daily basis. We anticipate that over the course of the school year we will need to utilize all of our proposed learning models.
 

NOTE: The opening weeks of school include a number of Monday holidays and specifics for the boys about block rotations will be sent in a later mailing from our division directors in mid-August.

 

Remote Learning Options

Any family who would prefer to have their son learn remotely should contact Middle School Director, Lauren Hamilton, or Upper School Director, Don Bradley, to make arrangements. Students who are exhibiting COVID-19 symptoms are asked to stay home, but will be able to attend class virtually (see Campus-Wide Health Protocols). Belmont Hill has invested heavily in technology to make remote participation in on-campus classes possible, and families are encouraged to take advantage of this option whenever necessary. While we are engaged in on-campus learning scenarios, the general approach for remote students will be to facilitate synchronous virtual attendance with their on campus classes. Our new learning management system will also be a helpful addition to the experience of these students. A more complete explanation of the technologies and approach involved in remote learning will be available on our website in the coming days. Additionally, we respect the decision of every family and every boy when it comes to studying remotely.

Arrival and Departure

Click here to read the letter and see the Campus Map

The exact details of staggered arrivals and other logistics will be forthcoming once we have clarity on transportation choices for all students. The following outline is to give a general sense of what families might expect at arrival time if we are in the full school model. The goal of arrival and departure is to avoid large congregations of students and to maintain social distancing. Time has been dedicated during arrival to accommodate for daily health screening check-ins. Adult supervision will be provided at arrival and departure checkpoints and in assigned campus locations to assist with orderly procedures. When there is inclement weather, we will utilize campus buildings in a socially distanced fashion to dismiss boys to individual cars.
 

Students should arrive and depart from the following locations in accordance with the procedures outlined below:


Via Automobiles:


Via Buses:

All students riding the bus will arrive and depart from the Chapel Parking Lot. Upon arrival in the morning, students should proceed to the check-in location near the Hamilton Chapel.

Transportation demands are far more complex in our new schedule, so afternoon bus departure times will follow Middle School end times, as they represent the vast majority of bus riders.


Buses will depart school as follows:

On days when buses depart at 2:15 pm, we are working on alternative arrangements for those Upper School bus riders who wish to attend Upper School sports.

On days when buses depart at 4:15 pm, proctored study halls will be offered until 4:15 pm to accommodate Upper School students waiting to take the bus and other students waiting for a ride. While this will be offered, we hope families might be able to make alternative arrangements to limit this extra time on campus whenever possible.

  • Students driving to school should park in the student parking lot, exit their car, and immediately proceed to the check-in location near the Residential Quad. The expectation will be that students move immediately into their first classroom for attendance. At the end of the school day, student drivers should proceed directly to their car with any siblings and leave campus. Students should not congregate in the parking lots. Carpooling is strongly discouraged outside of family members.
     
  • Form I and II students who are being driven to school and picked up at the end of the day will use the Upper Parking Lot at the entrance near Robsham, and parents will need to wait in the queue until reaching the main entrance. This queue will flow into the Jordan lot as needed. Upon arrival in the morning, students should proceed to the check-in location near Robsham.
     
  • Form III-VI students who are being driven to school and picked up at the end of the day will use the Main Parking Lot (Jordan Athletic Center Lot — adjacent to the fields). Upon arrival in the morning, students should proceed to the check-in location near the Residential Quad.
     
  • Parents/guardians should remain in their cars during drop-off and pick-up.
  • Mondays and Thursdays: Buses depart at 2:15 pm
  • Tuesdays and Fridays: Buses depart at 4:15 pm

Dress Code

With masks being worn at all times indoors, we are making adjustments to the traditional school dress code. Students and faculty will be permitted to forego the blazer and tie but should otherwise be in school dress code, including a button-down shirt. Further dress-down days will be implemented as weather or the situation may dictate.

 

Cubbies and Lockers

Cubbies and athletic lockers will not be used in the coming school year. With the planned academic schedule, students will have no more than three classes per day and can keep their materials in a backpack or bag. Similarly, students will not be able to store athletic equipment on campus. For those participating in athletics, sports equipment should be transported in a bag each day for practice. Students should be sure to have adequate personal supplies so as not to have to share with peers at school.

Support Services

Support services of all types will continue to be critical for our boys in this new environment. All Office of Academic Support Services (OASS) appointments and tutoring will be scheduled virtually before or after school or during study halls. Individual private spaces will be provided for students to engage in virtual OASS during study halls as needed. Similarly, our mental-health counselors will be available both virtually for meetings or in person during study halls and other times throughout the day. Group meetings are still possible in appropriately sized spaces. College Counselling appointments will also be able to take place in person or virtually as is preferred by students. All meetings taking place in person will be socially distanced and with masks.