Health and Safety Policies
School Health and Safety Policies and Procedures: The Key Points
For the convenience of our families, we have outlined some key points to remember.
Face Coverings
Beginning Monday, March 7, 2022, masks will be optional for all faculty, staff, and students when inside school buildings. Masking protocols for students and staff returning from quarantine or isolation due to COVID exposure or infection remain in place. Ratner Montessori will reinstate a school-wide mask requirement should conditions warrant it.
At-Home Health Screening
Parents are encouraged to be on the alert for signs of illness in their children and to keep them home when they are sick. Parents are asked to conduct a pre-screening each day at home.
Please do not bring your child to school if you notice any of the following symptoms:
- Temperature of 100 degrees fahrenheit or higher
- Cough
- Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing
- Chills
- Repeated shaking with chills
- Muscle pain
- Headache
- Sore throat
- Loss of taste or smell
- Diarrhea
Note: For the safety of our community, please do not bring your child to school if you have provided a fever reducer within the last 24 hours.
NUT FREE POLICY
KEEPING RATNER NUT-FREE
Due to the severity of nut allergies that exists in our student body, Ratner maintains a nut-free school. The bullet points listed below provide details and suggestions on how we can all work together to keep our food environment safe for all of our students:
- Packed lunches must exclude all nut products, both peanut and tree nuts.
- Nut butter alternatives include Sunbutter which is made from sunflower seeds. When packing this alternative, please label as sunflower butter.
- In the event a butter-type sandwich is not identified as a nut alternative, staff is authorized to remove the sandwich and provide your child with a Sunbutter sandwich option from our kitchen. If those steps are taken, staff will notify the parent by phone or email.
- Please be vigilant regarding cross-contamination when packing snack items or side dishes such as granola bars, trail mix, cookies and breakfast bars. Please review ingredients to insure snacks you are sending to school with your child are nut-free.
- In the event a snack item is found to have nuts, staff is authorized to remove the snack, and provide your child with a nut-free snack alternative including fruit or crackers.
- When sending in snacks to share for bake sales or birthday celebrations, be sure to review labels or ingredients to exclude nut products.
Drop-Off and Pick-Up Procedures and Maps
Morning Drop-off
Time: The school day begins at 8:30am. Students can enter classrooms beginning at 8:15am. Earlier arrivals must use the Early Bird/Morning Movement program, which begins at 7:30am. (for Children's House/Toddlers, the program begins on September 6). The traffic pattern described is illustrated on the map below.
Elementary I and Elementary II, and Middle School (except bus-riders)
- Drop-Off at Front Doors
- Vehicles will line up in the car line in front of the school (see map below)
- School staff will be present in front of the school to monitor drop-off
- Students will exit cars onto the sidewalk and proceed to the front doors.
Toddler and Children's House Students
- DURING ORIENTATION: Park and accompany child to their classroom. Remain on campus until your child is comfortably settled in their room (discuss timing with teacher). We recommend the large north parking lot, as the small front lot will fill up quickly and can be difficult to navigate during congested drop-off times.
- AFTER ORIENTATION: One parent/guardian only should park and accompany their child to their classroom, entering through the designated side front door (signage will indicate the appropriate door). A Ratner staff person will be stationed at that door. Parents/guardians should exit the building as soon as children have entered their classrooms.
Bus riders will enter through the library or gym breezeway doors.
Bus Riders
- Drop-off and pick-up at rear entrance (library doors). Buses will enter via Belgrave and loop around perimeter of large parking lot.
- School staff will be present to monitor drop-off
Pick-Up
Time: The school day ends at 3:30pm (11:30 for morning-only students), and all students are expected to be picked up at that time. Students remaining on campus after 3:45pm will be sent to the after-care program at a cost of $24 per day to be billed to parents.
ALL Toddlers, Children's House, Elementary I and Elementary II, and Middle School (except bus-riders) must pick up in the car line.
NO BUILDING ENTRY IS PERMITTED DURING AFTERNOON DISMISSAL.
NO PARKING IN FRONT LOT DURING DISMISSAL
Follow a one-way traffic pattern, with cars entering from Shaker Blvd., and exiting out the back of the campus onto Belgrave Rd.
Entry at Shaker Blvd. will use both lanes.
- Toddler and Children’s House families will enter to the RIGHT of the island (see the orange arrows) and continue along the curb past the flagpole. Children will be walked out to your vehicle by teachers. When you are prepared to leave, you will continue to the Belgrave exit.
- Grades 1-8 (E1, E2, and Middle School) families will enter to the LEFT of the island (see the purple arrows) and continue into the front parking lot where you should remain in line in your vehicle. The students will use the crosswalk and come directly to the vehicle. When ready, you will continue to the Belgrave exit.
- Families who have students in both divisions (Toddler/Children’s House and Grades 1-8) should follow the procedure for the youngest child (the RIGHT lane).
Parking is permitted only in the back (north) parking lot. If you need to park near or at dismissal time for an early pick-up or an appointment, you should enter campus via Belgrave Rd. to avoid getting stuck in the carline. Park in the back parking lot and walk to the Main Lobby doors, where you can ring the doorbell for office staff to assist you.
