COVID-19 Updates

Hello Derby Families,

I have received some questions about where to get a PCR (polymerase chain reaction) COVID test in the area, so I thought I would send out this information to everyone. You can always ask your primary care physician's office for recommendations too, but I also wanted to pass along a good resource: Mass.gov's list of Free Testing Sites.

The above site has several different free testing sites. Most of them do not take appointments, so you will need to get there early and be prepared to wait. I have seen the turnaround time for some of these sites being less than 24 hours. If you need to get a test just make sure to clarify that it is a PCR (polymerase chain reaction) COVID test and not an antigen or other nucleic acid test. Please let me know if you have any questions or if you need additional resources.

We also understand that it can be difficult and confusing to talk with your children about COVID-19. Here are some online resources that were shared by Julie Browne, our school counselor. She is also available to speak with anyone as we navigate through these unique times.

• Open Circle's "How to talk To Kids About Coronavirus"
• National Association of School Psychologists' Guide to "Helping Children Cope With Changes Resulting From COVID-19"

Again, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me or Kendall Connerty at any time with any questions or concerns.

All my best,
Sarah Driscoll, PA-C

Dear Derby Families,
With the experience of our first case of COVID-19 in the school community, we, the Parents Association leadership and the COVID Task Force, feel it is important to provide some reminders about practices to allow us to keep our school open by avoiding the spread of COVID-19. The faculty and administration are doing all they can at school to minimize risk, but they cannot be successful if we are casual about best practices after leaving school or on weekends. Many of you have asked about how and if to socialize outside of school. After months away from school and friends, we understand that socializing with peers is an important and needed component that your children and all of us are craving right now.

The COVID-19 Task Force would like to offer scientifically-backed guidance to you that allows us to build community and fellowship while not risking our community’s health. While remote gatherings (via Zoom or other tech tools) are obviously the lowest-risk, we offer the following for in-person gatherings.

The Basics of Socializing in Person

• Outdoors
• Masked
• At a distance
• Keep the group small

Changing any of the four above increases the risk of transmission, and therefore puts teachers and students at increased risk, not to mention your own households. While we all have different risk calculations for our families, we are confident that we all share the goals of keeping our most at-risk community members safe and keeping our school open.

This is one of the greatest opportunities to call upon our families to do something of deep significance for our community—take care of each other so we can continue to come to school.

Things to Avoid

• Indoors
• Carpools
• Anything unmasked, including eating/drinking
• Large groups

Creative Ideas for Gathering

While responsibly following the above, you can still socialize. As has been done at school with many routines and practices, reimagining works—you just have to be creative. The PA is creating a document for families with great and healthy ideas. To share ideas that have worked for you, please email derbypacommunications@gmail.com.

Playdates, Birthday Parties, and Sports Teams

We know there are common times that you are thinking about, so here is some additional specific guidance for those:

Playdates

• Plan at an outside venue such as a park, playground, or someone’s backyard.
• Have the fewest children/adults possible.
• Do not carpool—if unavoidable, ensure mask-wearing and windows open.
• Skip the snacks or pack them to go when kids can unmask with their own families.

Birthdays

• Plan at an outside venue where all can maintain distancing while wearing masks.
• Keep the group small—we recommend no more than 3-4 children, and if there are adult chaperones, no more than 1 per child.
• Skip the pizza and send party guests home with a cupcake or slice of cake in a to-go bag.

Sports Teams

• Students participating in off-campus sports should abide by the state guidelines provided for youth sports: Safety Standards for Youth Sports.
• These guidelines prohibit athletic tournaments in moderate and higher-risk sports; however, guidelines vary across sports and depend on whether the activity is practice or competition. Please be sure to read these guidelines carefully. 
• Have a candid conversation with the coach to ensure that they will be following similar guidelines to those in school, such as mask-wearing and maintaining distance. 
• If your team is intentionally avoiding MA rules by traveling outside of the state, we recommend not participating. If you participate in a team that meets regularly out of state, you must follow any and all MA guidelines upon return.

We Are Here to Help

We understand how meaningful community engagement is now more than ever. Please be assured that the PA and the Development Office are working hard, actively planning other ways to connect the community. This is a time to lean on Derby’s ingenuity and find ways to be connected while keeping everyone healthy.

The Spirit

There may be a lot of different ideas on what is healthy and safe, and what should or should not happen outside of school. Please accept this counsel in the spirit with which it is offered—we want to find a way to work together to keep our community healthy and open. That would be a great way to exhibit our thanks to the faculty for what they do every day for our children. 

We are in the midst of a pandemic, and we should expect things to be hard. We also believe our community can rise to the occasion. Our ability to thrive depends on each of us. Please join us in doing your part.

Sincerely,

COVID Task Force
Derby Academy Parents Association

Derby Academy Community

First we would like to thank you for all your efforts to adhere to Derby’s new policies and procedures that were put in place to help make sure we had a safe re-opening of school. 

As you know, there are stories in the news everyday regarding new testing options, protocols, and procedures that institutions are using to keep their communities safe. We thought it would be a good time to remind our community of Derby’s practices and policies.

• Any student or employee showing signs or symptoms of COVID-19 illness including ANY of the symptoms listed on the Magnus app must stay home and be tested prior to returning to school. 
   
• All siblings of the symptomatic individual must also stay home until a negative PCR COVID test result for the symptomatic individual has been sent to the Derby health center. At this time we are not requiring that asymptomatic siblings get tested if there are no positive cases in their household.   
   
• Derby will only accept a negative PCR (polymerase chain reaction) test as verification that an individual is not infected with COVID-19. We realize there are a number of antigen and rapid nucleic acid tests coming onto the market; however, the error rates of these options are still too high for us to rely on as proof of wellness.
   
• If a student presents at the health office with COVID-19 symptoms they will be isolated until a parent or guardian can pick up the student. Any siblings of the student will also be removed from class and required to be out of school until the symptomatic student has a confirmed negative test. The student must show proof of a negative PCR test before they will be allowed back to school. The student’s cohort and any relevant faculty members will be informed that a member of the cohort has been sent home with COVID-19 symptoms and is being tested.
   
• Per the Commonwealth of Massachusetts guidelines any student or employee traveling out of Massachusetts to a high-risk (red) state must provide proof of a negative COVID-19 test that was taken within 72 hours of returning to Massachusetts. If a test has not been conducted prior to re-entering Massachusetts then the individual must quarantine for 14 days or until they receive a negative COVID-19 test. Again, Derby’s policy is that only a PCR (polymerase chain reaction) test is acceptable and all Derby students regardless of age need to be tested.  
   
• As this is the time of year that travel for the holidays and youth sports becomes more prevalent, we will be adding a question to our Magnus Daily Health Check-in for you to indicate that you have not traveled to a high-risk state.
   
• We also want to make sure you have information about the general health of our students, faculty, and staff. In the next few days we will be adding key health statistics to a COVID-19 section of our website.

Derby’s COVID-19 Task Force meets on a weekly basis to evaluate the latest information available about virus status, testing options, and best practices to combat COVID-19. We continue to monitor the Massachusetts Department of Health, CDC, and other sites for any additional information. Our health staff is also communicating with the Hingham Board of Health on a regular basis regarding any potential exposures to the Derby Community. 

Numerous parents have commented how happy their children are to be back to school and on campus with their friends. Our number one goal is to keep Derby as safe as possible and open during this pandemic. We understand that these guidelines are in some cases tighter than state mandates, but they are needed to achieve our goal to continue in-person learning.

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Derby COVID-19 Task Force