Mentor Schools 2021 Quality Profile Report - Flipbook - Page 5
Response to covid-19
Layers of Safety
To help stop the spread of COVID-19 in our community, Mentor Schools
continues to approach virus mitigation with a layered approach. This includes: the importance of vigilantly assessing for symptoms and staying
home when sick; face-covering requirements for students and staff; social
distancing as much as possible; hand washing encouragement; abundant
hand sanitizer; improved indoor air quality; school cleaning and disinfecting; special attention to high traffic areas; and much more.
Vigilantly Assess for Symptoms
We expect again this year that both students, with the help of their parents, and all of our staff members, are being vigilant in assessing for COVID
-19 symptoms. Since COVID-19 spreads rapidly, it is essential that everyone
conduct daily health checks prior to going to school, which should include
taking one’s temperature. Anyone with the following symptoms or a temperature above 100 degrees must stay home. It is so important that we do
this for one another.
Identifying Learning Gaps & Implementing Interventions
Despite our very best efforts, the pandemic has led to learning gaps for
some students. We already began addressing this in the classroom last
school year. Over the summer, we extended summer programming to
more students than usual. Additionally this year, we hired 21 educators
across the district to focus on assisting students who need extra help, academically. We are using students’ specific benchmark data to determine
who is in need of these targeted interventions. Federal COVID relief dollars
are being used to fund the cost of adding staff members.
Improved Indoor Air Quality
Along with our continued deep cleaning and sanitization efforts that are
happening every day, we made another improvement for health and wellness in our buildings. Several-hundred bi-polar ionization devices were
installed all across the district to improve indoor air quality in all of our
schools. These devices work by neutralizing particulate matter, bacteria
and virus cells, odorous gases and aerosols, and Volatile Organic Compounds (better known as VOCs). This technology has been found to be very
effective against the coronavirus, as well as other viruses, and essentially
will help clean and purify the air for years to come in learning spaces all
across the district.
Mental Health Needs
As children have faced a lot of change and uncertainty in their lives over
the last year and a half, we have continued to provide social and emotional
support for our students, making sure our resources and services are available for all students who need them. Besides access to various relatedservice personnel, this also includes access to programming in ageappropriate initiatives and education. Also, prior to the start of this school
year, our certified staff received a refresher training session about mental
health issues and awareness.
Learning Choice & Mentor Schools Online
Going into the last two school years knowing there would be extremely
varying comfort levels for people to be out of their homes during the
COVID-19 pandemic, Mentor Schools offered two different learning options for students, in-person or online. This year Mentor Schools Online
(MSO) is operating for students in grades K-6. We felt this was an important age-group to offer choice since these children are not eligible for
vaccination. Approximately 130 students are learning in our virtual classrooms with Mentor Schools teachers this year. There was not enough interest to offer MSO in grades 7-12. Last year, 2,000 students were enrolled
in Mentor Schools Online. Students are receiving a high-quality education
with Mentor Schools teachers with either path.
COVID-19 Vaccination Clinics
As educators across the country had early access to the COVID-19 vaccine,
Mentor hosted a vaccination clinic with the Lake County General Health
District for local school personnel, who wanted to get the vaccine. More
than 1,200 people received their first and second doses of the Pfizer vaccine at Mentor High School in February and March. A huge team of volunteers and medical workers made these large-scale clinics a success.
Cleaning & Disinfecting
Our custodial staff members disinfect common areas of every building on a
daily basis. This includes bathrooms, cafeterias, sinks, drinking fountains,
and more. We also regularly disinfect classroom surfaces, such as desks
and chairs, as well as our buses, too. One extra tool we have in Mentor
Schools and use in every school building is our electrostatic sprayer machine. The electrostatic sprayers are EPA approved with a safe disinfectant
solution to help us be even more efficient in the cleaning process as we
work to limit the spread of germs. In response to COVID-19, we ramped up
the sanitization efforts even more by hiring additional staff members.
Hand Sanitizer & Physical Barriers
While proper hand-washing and physical space between people are among
best practices to curb the spread of COVID-19, hand sanitizer and physical
barriers are helpful tools to use when that is not possible. We have placed
hand sanitizer in every classroom and in all of the common areas in every
one of our schools. We also purchased plexiglass and plastic barriers for
use at work spaces and in the cafeterias when needed.
No Cost Meals
Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, our Nutrition Services department has been busy! Our essential workers never stopped— making sure
our community’s children have nutritious meals each and every day.
Through the USDA National School Lunch Program, we are able to offer
breakfast and lunch meals at no cost to ALL of our community’s children for
the entire 2021-2022 school year. Meals were offered at no cost all of last
school year, too.
Planning Considerations: COVID-19 school planning is developed based on guidance from: Ohio’s Governor’s Office, Department of Health, and Department of Education,
as well as the American Academy of Pediatrics, Centers for Disease Control, and Lake County General Health District. Plans continue to be subject to change as necessary.