Mask Policy.

This policy applies regardless of vaccination status.

Entering Village Grounds & Events

Please wear your mask when entering all Village Playgarden yards (Skylane, Canon, and Forest School at Camp Huntington).  We do not need to check to see who is vaccinated and we would not like to monitor whether or not people are able maintain the CDC recommended 3 feet of physical distancing. Your cooperation and application of the science and policies will keep us safe. All children 3 years and above need to enter the yard and arrive at drop-off using their masks. Masks are required in all indoor spaces. If you are having a mask break outside, please keep the mask on your chin or on hand in order to put it back on when you are closer than 3 feet physical distance (outside from someone who is not in your family pod). You are welcomed to drop your mask below your chin if you are able to be at least 3 feet of physical distance from a fellow community member who is not in your family pod and outside. Please pack your child’s cubby with two additional masks. Please properly place the mask covering the nose and mouth.

Mask On

Inside: at all times; Outside and Inside: closer than three feet apart with anyone not part of your pod.

Mask Off

Outside: 3 feet apart or with a member of your pod (no need to be 3 feet apart) Though we recognize that children will have many mask free moments throughout the day when they are in community together, each teacher reserves the right to request that the children put their mask on at the teachers discretion. Masks are required for all community events and festivals both outside and inside.

Symptoms of Illness

If a child is sick, they will need a 10-day quarantine period OR a negative Covid PCR test before they return to community. If there are persistent symptoms after a negative Covid test, the child will need a doctor’s note to return to community verifying that the child is well enough to be in school and that their symptoms are not going to pose an undue challenge to the immune systems of other children and teachers.

Please email a copy of your child’s Covid results and doctor’s note if needed to admin@villageplaygarden.com; geoff@villageplaygarden.org; kikanza@villageplaygarden.org, and to your child’s teacher.

The Village Playgarden Community Handbook has clear rules and guidelines regarding when children need to stay home while exhibiting symptoms of illness. Due to the severity of this historical moment regarding Covid-19 and the Delta Variant, we will make no exceptions on these guidelines. 

We ask each Village Playgarden community family to be respectful of the entire community and all the families that each one of us in this community belong to by not bringing your child to the Garden if they are exhibiting ANY symptoms of illness, regardless of their energy level and/or desire to come to the Garden. This includes but is not limited to physical symptoms of illness such as:

• runny noses, coughs, and congestion

• stomachaches, vomiting, and diarrhea

• fever

• sore throat

• headaches

• earaches

• pink eyes

• loss of taste and smell

Please be mindful of the symptoms that are sometimes apparent in a child just before they come down with

something. Symptoms such as:

• unusual and persistent fatigue and/or quietness

• persistent crankiness/emotional dysregulation

• anxiousness

Please err on the side of caution. Even though the major symptoms above may not yet be present, but you think

they are coming down with something, please keep them home.

If a teacher suspects that a child is not feeling well at school, we will call home and expect the child to be picked up directly. We will rest the child in a quiet place separate from the other children until parents arrive.

Physical Distance

The teachers and staff will work with the children outside at all times. Our outdoor classrooms are designed for comfort in all climates equipped with heaters, fans, and plenty of shade. In addition, please make sure that your child’s cubby is stocked with clothes that keep your child temperate in all kinds of weather.

We will work to create safe physical distance when we can during drop-off and pick up, daily transitions, morning walks, the circle games, eating, crafting, story time, and nap time.  However, it is not possible for us to prevent children of this age from playing in close physical contact with one another. In addition, there will be times of the day when the children will not be wearing masks. We will not create anxiety for children in their play with one another by insisting that they separate from one another.

Distancing For Parents

Yes, a parent can walk their child in; there is no need to hand them off from the car to a teacher. However, please have only ONE parent bring the child into the Garden and ONE parent pick them up. Please transition your child to their teacher and their class efficiently, without undue hanging out and socializing in the outdoor classrooms. You are welcomed to connect with and socialize with other parents once you have left the outdoor classroom and are on other parts of the land. Observe at least 3 feet physical distance when you are socializing on the land. Wear a mask if you cannot sustain at least 3 feet of physical distance.

Distancing for faculty and staff:

Teachers will observe distance from one another and from the children as best we can while making sure to make ourselves available and connected to all of the children. When at least 3 feet of distance cannot be sustained, masks will be worn. Masks will be worn indoors at all times. Teachers will take their breaks and personal time while observing safe physical distance.

Handwashing and Sanitizing

Teachers will work with children to wash their hands regularly throughout the day. Teachers and staff will wash their hands regularly throughout the day. Surfaces will be cleaned with non-toxic sanitizing cleaner regularly throughout the day. Each child will have their own pillow, pillowcase, sheet, blanket, cup, and hat assigned for the entire school year. Toys that cannot be wiped down and sanitized have been removed from our classrooms.

Travel and Re-entry

If you family is traveling please notify your child’s teacher and Village Playgarden administration (admin@villageplaygarden.org; geoff@villageplaygarden.org; kikanza@villageplaygarden.org )

Please submit a negative PCR Covid test upon return before bringing your child back to the Garden. Ideally, the PCR Covid test will be taken two days after travel is completed.

Known Covid Exposure

If your child or someone in your family has a known Covid exposure please: Take a PCR test and stay out of school until results are available, submit a negative PCR test to return to school, and inform us of the exposure.

Testing for Faculty and Staff

All Village Playgarden faculty and staff are required to stay home and only return with a negative PCR Covid test under the following circumstances: Illness or symptoms as mentioned above, travel, known Covid exposure.

Vaccinations

Per the mandate of the State of California for school employees, all Village Playgarden faculty and staff are vaccinated.

These policies and community agreements are an effort to acknowledge our commitment to playing our part in protecting the health and safety of the members of the Village Playgarden Community and the communities that we are from in Los Angeles County.  We acknowledge that Covid-19 and its most recent variation, the Delta Variant, is a real disease whose global pandemic proportions are wreaking havoc on the physical, mental, emotional, and economic well-being of the entire world.  Village Playgarden will do its part to try to mitigate the spread of Covid-19 to people who are the most vulnerable: the elderly, people with pre-existing conditions, poor Black and Brown communities, people who lack health insurance, and first responders. We deeply recognize that our ”freedom” to go out and about whenever and however we want has been challenged. We also recognize that many of the Covid-19 measures have interrupted the protected, magical, and carefree childhood that we all wish for our children, and to which Village Playgarden has been dedicated for the past 13 years.

Village Playgarden is taking on a big challenge in the 2021-2022 school year driven by our commitment to children and families of young children. We have decided to reopen and expand our programming to three campuses at time when many early childhood programs are closing their doors for good. We are working to create an experience that is healing, honors community, creates connection, and has the task of supporting the total health and wellbeing of children and their families at the core.  We recognize that this task requires all in the Village Playgarden community to be willing to stretch. It will be important for us to be in constant communication with the latest information, mandates, science, and practices with regard to Covid-19.  We also acknowledge that many of the practices that humanity has been asked to take up to reduce the transmission of Covid-19 have detrimental consequences for young children: social distancing, zoom school, face coverings, and a world full of fear and anxiety. So both are true. It is our goal to be influenced by the science, common sense, conventional wisdom, legal mandates and the total wellbeing of children, as we create a 100% outdoor space for learning, creating, farming, and community building. The protocols that we have crafted are reflective of the science, policies, and California state and county mandates in this moment.  Furthermore, the Village Playgarden policies are influenced by our lifelong commitment to social justice where by public policy in its highest protects the most vulnerable, some of whom are members of the Village Playgarden community. We will remain up to date on such influences and the Village Playgarden policies may be adjusted accordingly throughout the school year.

There is no policy that is going make everyone in the community completely satisfied. We recognize that there may be varying opinions on the intersections where science meets public health meets politics meets personal choices. In the 2020-2021 school year we took a bold and courageous step and invested a great deal of time, effort, financial resources, and heart into creating spaces and policies that would have the chance of letting us have our cake and eat it too…to be together and greatly reduce the risks of getting Covid! As a result, last year we served more than 100 children in person between the ages of 2 years and 13 years old at a time when most children experienced their communities being shut down. In addition, we employed 22 hard working people at a time of economic crisis and hardship in an industry that was ravaged by pandemic economics. For us to move forward as a community and hold space for the children we encourage everyone to embrace the steps we are navigating into the future. Three campuses ONE VILLAGE!