This page contains copies of current and past parent notifications concerning Midland and COVID-19.

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August 9, 2021 Guidelines

Midland Adventist Academy’s COVID Reopening

Safety Procedures
(updated August 9, 2021 and effective August 11, 2021)

Midland Adventist Academy is dedicated to fulfilling our mission statement of “developing passionate followers of Christ who love God and serve people.” To best meet this goal, we are planning for in-person school for the 2021-2022 school year and have developed the following plan to provide a safe and effective environment for education.

Face Coverings

All students (K-12) and staff are required to wear masks as a strategy to minimize the spread of COVID among all individuals and specifically among the student population at Midland.

In addition to eating and drinking times, masks may be removed during PE class and recess. Masks are also required when riding on school transportation.

School Arrival

Parents should keep students home if they are experiencing any illness. Please self-screen at home before leaving for the day.

Students will report immediately to the gymnasium when arriving at the school between 7:30 am and 8:00 am. They will remain seated while in the gymnasium. If students arrive after 8:00 am:

• elementary students will go to their classroom
• high school students will go to the gymnasium

Exclusion Based on Symptoms

Midland states in the handbook that students should not attend school if the following general illness symptoms are present:

• fever (greater than 100 degrees)
• severe cough
• vomiting
• diarrhea

Should a fever be present, the fever will need to be gone for at least 24 hours without the use of fever-reducing medication before returning to school.

If a student becomes ill while at school, his/her parents will be asked to take him/her home. If school authorities are unable to reach the parent or legal guardian, the person listed as an emergency contact on the registration form will be notified.

Specific to COVID, a student will be excluded from school if they have one primary symptom or two secondary symptoms:

 

Consult the CDC’s guidance on the symptoms that are caused by COVID. If you believe the symptoms that your child is experiencing are the result of contracting COVID, please keep your child out of school and contact your physician.

Returning to On-site School After Being Excluded Due to Symptoms

There are three ways to return to school once a student has been excluded from on-site school because of the presence of symptoms:

1. If the student took a COVID test and the results came back negative, then they are allowed to return to school after the fever (if present) is gone for 24 hours without fever-reducing medication and the other symptoms are improving.
2. Your health care provider determines the symptoms are not the result of COVID and provides the school a written explanation.
3. If the student tested positive for COVID (or did not test for COVID and does not have a doctor’s note), then all three of the following must be met before returning to school:

          a. required to stay out of school for 10 days from the date the symptoms first appeared
          b. symptoms must be improving
          c. fever (if present) must be gone for 24 hours without fever-reducing medication

A PCR test is recommended for all COVID testing.

Exposure to a Confirmed Positive COVID Individual

A student will be excluded from school for a minimum of 7 days after the last exposure to a confirmed positive individual from within their household. The student can return to school on the 8th day after their last exposure if the student has a negative COVID test result and never developed symptoms. The COVID test sample may not be collected more than 48 hours before the planned ending of exclusion from school. (For returning after a positive test result, see point #3 above.)

If no COVID test is taken, then a student is able to return to school on the 11th day from the last exposure date if no symptoms have developed. 

Students who have been exposed to a confirmed positive COVID individual from outside of their household will not be excluded from school as the result of the school’s decision. It is recommended that students in this situation get tested for COVID.

If there is a positive case of COVID at school, a letter will be sent home to the families of those individuals the school believes were in contact with the COVID-positive individual. This will be sent out immediately after the school receives this information.

School Day

• High school lockers will be assigned to keep class cohorts together and allow as much social distancing as possible.
• No drinking fountain use. Students will supply their own water bottles. Two water bottle refilling stations will be available for use throughout the day.
• Hand sanitizer and disinfecting supplies will be provided in each classroom and in the front entryway.
• Students will have assigned seating in classrooms and the cafeteria.
• Desks will be separated to allow for maximum distancing given the number of students within each classroom.
• HEPA air filters will be used in each classroom.

Meals

• Hot lunch staff will use face coverings and gloves at all times.
• Students will wash their hands before eating lunch.
• Students will be separated from each other to allow the maximum distance given the number of students in the cafeteria.

Cleaning and Disinfecting

• Students are educated about hand washing/sanitizing and general hygiene practices through posters, videos, and class talks.
• Sneeze guards are present in the front office and between bathroom sinks.
• Shared spaces will be cleaned thoroughly at the end of each day.

Distance Learning for Excluded Students

• Elementary teachers are able to package work for parents to pick up for their student. Some work will be available online through ClassDojo, Google Classroom, or other online platforms.
• High school teachers will utilize Google Classroom for students who have been excluded from school.
• Upon request, teachers will be available immediately after school for tutoring through Zoom to those students who have been excluded from school. Families must request this at least one day in advance directly to the teacher.

Midland Adventist Academy has put the above measure in place in response to COVID-19 during the 2021-2022 school year. Despite the above efforts, there is still a risk of becoming infected with COVID-19 while at school.

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May 17, 2021 letter 

Hello Midland Family,

The Midland staff met this afternoon and discussed what, if any, minor adjustments to our COVID plan should be made for the last two weeks of the school year. There are two adjustments I would like to make you aware of which will take effect Tuesday, May 18:

1. Individuals are no longer required to have their masks on while outside. Teachers still have the authority to tell students to put a mask on should they notice a need for this. Also, students are welcome to keep their masks on if they are more comfortable with that. Masks are still required indoors as they have been all year.
2. Two people are allowed to sit in a seat on the bus with masks still on and the windows down. Previously we limited this to one person per seat unless the individuals lived in the same house.

All other parts of our COVID plan are still in effect and will remain in effect through the end of the year.

We are almost done with this very unique year and I am so thankful for all of your support and understanding as we have come to this point year!

Adam Littell
Principal
Midland Adventist Academy
913-268-7400

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July 30, 2020 letter on Graduation

Hello Graduates and Parents,

The weather is not cooperating with us, unfortunately. We have looked at the field with all the rain we have been getting at the school and it will very likely not be sufficiently dry by the time we have graduation on Sunday. That is also coupled with a growing chance of rain on Sunday morning. This has caused us to explore having graduation in the gym on Sunday. We have worked out the logistics to be as safe as possible during this time of COVID.

Graduation will be in MAA's gymnasium on Sunday. I apologize if this change in plans creates an inconvenience for you.

Here are the new guidelines for Sunday:

• Face masks are required at all times for all people in attendance except for the graduates themselves.
• Graduates will be socially distanced from each other on the stage
• The chairs are set up in the gymnasium in a particular way. Please do not move the chairs. There are many groups of ten chairs (two rows of five) that will be considered a family group. Each family group set of chairs is six feet apart from the next family group to provide adequate social distancing. Please sit with your group of people that you have in your personal COVID "bubble."
• Doors will open thirty minutes before the ceremony starts.
• Please limit the number of invited guests. We are not placing a number on the limit due to the short notice for travel reasons, but please be considerate of the current COVID situation and self-limit how many guests you are bringing due to this now being inside the gym.
• The ceremony is going to be live-streamed on our Facebook page. We encourage you to utilize this option as much as possible.
• The outside doors will be opened and the gymnasium fan system will be working to cycle through fresh clean air during and after the program.
• Please do not linger in the building after the ceremony.

The starting time will remain unchanged.

Thank you for all working together to make this event meaningful for everyone as well as making it as safe as possible.

Adam Littell
Principal
Midland Adventist Academy
913-268-7400

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July 23, 2020 letter