Health and Safety

The school's priority remains providing a healthy, safe learning environment for students, faculty, and staff. BT's safety protocols aim to create an environment with as minimal disruptions to in-person learning as possible. 

Overall Goals of the Health and Safety Plan

• Provide students a quality education in person.
• Protect the physical and mental health of all students, faculty, and staff.
• Return to normal procedures, as much as possible.

Brownell Talbot has a task force that meets on a regular basis to review state, local, and school data related to health trends and provides recommendations specifically for the BT community. The task force includes members from school leadership, board leadership, facilities, BTPA, Boosters, and the medical community.

COVID-19 Protocols

Masks are recommended for all schools.

What will trigger a move back to masks required?

• If there are two positive COVID-19 cases in the same classroom, masks will be required for a minimum of 10 days for that classroom.
• If the school absentee rate for illness reaches a three-day average of 7% or higher, masks will be required for a minimum of 10 days. At the end of the 10 days, masks will no longer be required as long as the three-day average leading up to day 10 is below 7%. If the three-day average is above 7% on day 10, masks will remain required until the three-day average is below 7%.

Expectations and Procedures

Maintaining a clean environment is everyone’s responsibility. Facilities staff will clean and disinfect as defined by BT’s Safety Team. Teachers have supplies to clean and disinfect surfaces as needed. Lunch room tables and facilities will be cleaned and maintained by faculty, staff, and students.

BT continues to encourage and require when appropriate hand washing/sanitizing upon entering the school or start of school activities and during the day as needed. Every classroom and office is equipped with hand sanitizer and hand washing is built into the school day. 

Water fountains will remain off and students are asked to bring water bottles to school, which can be refilled throughout the day at one of several filling stations located on campus. Students are not permitted to have food delivered to campus. 

Parents/guardians are asked to monitor for symptoms with your family every morning before arriving at school. If someone in your household has any of the following symptoms, you should call the school immediately for additional information and guidance. 

• Sore throat.
• Cough.
• Chills.
• Body aches for unknown reasons.
• Shortness of breath for unknown reasons.
• Loss of smell.
• Loss of taste.
• Fever at or greater than 100.4 degrees.

In most scenarios, you will need to keep your child home. Outside of school hours, complete the reporting form at brownell.edu/healthcheck. In addition, you should keep your child home and contact the school office if your child has any of the following:

• A temperature of 100.4 or greater.
• Episodes of vomiting or diarrhea in the last 24 hours.
• An unexplained rash or loss of taste or smell.
• New onset of shortness of breath or cough.
• Other symptoms that could indicate contagious illnesses.

If you have symptoms, have been exposed, are awaiting test results, or have received positive test results, contact the school immediately. Outside school hours, complete the reporting form at brownell.edu/healthcheck. Students, faculty, and staff who have symptoms or have been exposed to a person who tested positive for COVID-19 may be excluded from school or asked to wear a mask.

Please note: BT will adjust protocols (including mask requirements) as necessary to address changing conditions. During the 2022-2023 school year, protocols and requirements may change for a specific division, program, classroom, or setting based on number of positive cases, contact tracing, community test positivity rate, community conditions and risk of spread.