School Updates + Policies

If you plan to visit with family and friends outside of your current household/circle, the children/staff member MUST stay home for 14 days. Gatherings, large or small, are considered high-exposure activities. as of 11/13/2020

We are looking at the following areas to address:

• Health and Safety
• Staffing
• Financial
• Virtual Learning
• Logistics – daily schedules, meetings on campus, beginning of school activities

CDS will immediately separate staff and children who exhibit COVID-19 symptoms or any signs of illness while at school, including fever, cough, or shortness of breath. Parents are expected to secure arrangements to pick-up, ill children, within 30-45 minutes of notification. If the parents are not available, an emergency contact will be called to pick up the child. If a staff member becomes ill while at school, they will be asked to go home.

CDS is looking closely at this and we plan to address it on an individual basis considering privacy concerns. If you are in this category, please contact the Head of School, Diane Dunne, to address your concerns.

Virtual learning is not part of our culture, but it allowed us to try and keep some socialization going for our students in a very difficult time when they were cut off from their regular routines, friends and teachers. It facilitated continued learning when classrooms were not accessible. We are currently re-evaluating Zoom and its appropriateness for 2- and 3-year old’s and probably won’t use it if we find ourselves in this situation. We do not use technology as part of our curriculum except Kindergarten and it is very regulated. (5/27/2020)

We have reopened the ability to apply for financial aid for those families in financial need;

We have included the ability for families to pay tuition over 10 months and switch to monthly payments;

We expect to offer a window in mid to late June that will allow families to withdraw from contracts for the 2020-21 school year. We expect to provide you with more information in mid-June; prior to the July tuition payment being due.

While we expect to open in the Fall, we are analyzing tuition refunds for the Fall semester in the event we need to implement a partial or full shut down. We also expect to provide this information in mid-June.” Along with a scale for refunds should we have to resume distance learning.

(5/27/2020)

CDS has policies in place to open mid-August 2020. Should the Governor say we must stay closed for the Fall semester, we will follow his guidance. (5/27/2020)

The Country Day School has come up with guidelines appropriate to its student body. We will not be following the Fairfax County Public School's reopening plan.

The CDS administrative team, teaching teams and the Board of Directors work diligently to come up with best practice strategic planning to make this a great year for everyone. As we proceed in this process, we will keep you updated. We realize there are many questions and concerns out there and we will need your continued input as we work through this difficult time.

Country Day provided reimbursements for Auxiliary programs but no reimbursement for the 2019-2020 school year tuition is planned. (5/27/2020)

After shutting down due to the Governors executive order in March 2020, CDS classes were held virtually right after Spring Break.

We are working on a contingency plan in the event we do not open or are forced to shut down during the school year. We expect to provide virtual learning for our students and are considering an appropriate tuition refund plan in the event we need to close for all or a portion of the year.