COVID-19 Response Plan and Updates

April 12, 2022

After lengthy consultations with our medical consultants, we are prepared to announce that beginning Tuesday, April 12th, masks will be OPTIONAL for all students and staff at PIA. Community spread has been in the "low" category for the last three weeks in all of PIA's zip codes, so we feel confident that our decision is scientifically sound and safe for our students and their families.  

A few important things to note:

1) No other protocols have changed. We need to continue to test, space, and keep all other protocols in place to unmask. Masks being optional is the ONLY change. 

2) Masks continue to be required on all school-provided transportation. This means students must continue to wear their masks on the vans, buses, and Hop Skip Drive vehicles.  

3) If community spread increases or if we detect cases at PIA, we will communicate that we will need to return to mandatory masking for a time.  

4) If your child is fully vaccinated, please remember to update our school records with that information. That information allows us to follow protocol much more efficiently.  

As always, thank you for your partnership. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to me. 

Safe Return to In-Person Learning

March 1, 2021

We’ve been pleased with our ability to mitigate COVID-19 thus far on campus, and we’re excited to announce that we will now be able to offer free COVID testing to all students and parents! We will have nurses on-site to test our students every Tuesday morning starting on 3/9. VHS will administer both the rapid and PCR tests to have preliminary results within 30 minutes.

If you would like to have your child participate in testing, please be sure that you complete the Patient Information Sheet that your child will bring home every week. You need to fill out the top half COMPLETELY and be sure that you sign the parent consent section. If you do not have medical insurance, please write NO INSURANCE in the blank for the insurance provider.

The student testing will begin on Tuesday, March 9th, and the patient information sheets required for testing will come home with all in-person students today. If you are a remote family who would like to participate, please let us know to arrange for you to come in on Tuesday morning and fill out the forms while you are here.

As always, thank you for your partnership and support.

February 11, 2021

Hybrid learning will resume on Monday, February 22. To prepare, there will be no school on Friday, February 19. This employee workday will allow staff to arrange classrooms for in-person learners, prepare common areas for lunch and other class activities, and deep clean campuses, all following the PIA Mitigation Plan.

Additionally, we urge all staff and families to voluntarily self-quarantine as much as possible before February 22 to do all that we can to safely return and remain in hybrid learning with limited disruption. In the coming days, we will update our mitigation plans, per any new CDC Guidelines, to ensure everyone's safety and well-being on campus. If you are returning to campus, please review our safety protocols, including distancing, hand washing, and mandatory masking.

February 4, 2021

We had previously made plans to offer in-person learning on Monday, February 8th. Given the current status of both COVID data and the time it is taking to have all of our educators completely vaccinated (both doses), we will need to postpone returning to campus another two weeks. We will offer in-person learning starting on Monday, February 22nd.

As we’ve stated previously, we’re confident that we can prevent the secondary spread of COVID on our campus with our protocols. However, one of those protocols is to close the school and go to remote learning immediately upon notification of a positive case. With positivity rates as they are, we would likely only be open for in-person learning for a few days before having to go back to remote learning. Consistency is essential for both our students and teachers and I would rather remain in remote learning for another two weeks than go through a reopening only to close again.

Cases are on a decline, and we feel confident that we will be able to reopen without issue on February 22nd. We will be calling all families to find out whether you wish to return in person on the 22nd or stay remote. If you aren’t sure about making this decision, the CDC has put out a decision making checklist that could help your family make the right decision. Click here to access the Decision-Making Checklist.

January 14, 2021

We've been back to remote learning for nearly two weeks now, and we've been so impressed with our students, their flexibility, and their work. It is our priority to return to offering in-person classes for many reasons - students who were on campus were learning at rates significantly above those of our distance learners and considerably above the national average. With that said, it simply isn't safe yet to offer the in-person option.

We feel very confident in our ability to prevent the spread of COVID-19 while students are on campus. We have seen zero evidence of secondary transmission in the on-campus learning environment at Phoenix International Academy. Additionally, the American Academy of Pediatrics released a report on January 6th stating that schools do not contribute significantly to the community spread of COVID-19, and we should make it our goal to return to in-person learning opportunities as soon as possible. However, current data shows that positivity rates and community spread are at levels that make it unsafe to return to in-person learning on Tuesday as we had initially planned.

Over the last few days, we’ve spent many hours consulting with our medical advisory team weighing information and options. Based on all of the data, we have decided to postpone returning to hybrid learning until Monday, February 8th. If the data shifts for the better, we will move this date forward.

As always, thank you for your continued support and partnership. We are so grateful for all of you. Please reach out if you have questions or need help with anything.

January 6, 2021

Welcome back! We had a wonderful first day back after winter break yesterday! As you know, due to the current data regarding the spread of COVID-19 in our community, we are currently in remote learning mode.

While our current plan is to offer in-person learning beginning on January 19th, I want to be transparent that if the data doesn’t support allowing hybrid instruction, we will remain in remote learning mode for all students until it is safe. I will send an update next week when we have more information.

In the same spirit of transparency, I want to share with you that the data we have collected shows significant differences between students coming to school in-person and participating remotely. In-person learners are growing significantly above the national growth expectations (63%tile for math and 57%tile for reading), but our remote learners are below the 50th percentile (46%tile for math and 36%tile for reading).

While these tests are designed to be administered during a regular school year and don’t consider any COVID disruption factors, this is undoubtedly an indication that it needs to be a priority for us to offer in-person options as soon as it is safe. We’ve also made some changes to remote instruction that will allow us to offer more targeted support for those students who did not make expected growth.

December 28, 2020

We will open our second semester in a remote environment from January 5-15. Campus will be operational if you should need anything from the office but all students will learn from home during that time. Our plan is to resume the students’ on-campus learning option on Tuesday, January 19th. This graduated return will allow us time to review our plans and protocols in light of the most current data.

During the week of January 11th, we will provide a community update to hopefully confirm our in-person option for the 19th. Those updates will include our implementation of the new CDC quarantine guidelines.

December 1, 2020

The health and welfare of our students and staff is our number one priority. We recently became aware that two individuals were diagnosed with COVID-19. These individuals were last at Phoenix International Academy on November 20, 2020, reside in the same household, and were asymptomatic when at PIA. This is a general notification - you do not need to quarantine unless you receive a quarantine notification. 

COVID-19 is a virus that can cause no symptoms, a mild illness, or severe symptoms. Symptoms may appear two to 14 days after exposure to the virus.

Individuals with COVID-19 can experience a wide range of symptoms. Some symptoms include fever or chills, cough, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, fatigue, muscle or body aches, headache, the new loss of taste or smell, rash, sore throat, congestion or runny nose, nausea or vomiting, and diarrhea.

We will continue to follow the guidance and expertise of local and national health officials to help protect our staff and families' health. At this time, we recommend that you continue to monitor your health - as usual - and follow CDC guidance to protect yourself and others from COVID-19.   Thank you for your patience and understanding as we work to protect our students' and staff's health.

November 10, 2020

The holiday season is known to be a time for families to come together, often with parts of the family that you don’t see regularly. With COVID cases rising in our community, unfortunately, we are predicting an even sharper rise in cases following the Thanksgiving holiday and in the incubation period following it. Because of the increased cases and the probability of increased transmission due to family gatherings, we will be proactively going to remote learning mode for all students beginning at the Thanksgiving holiday, with the in-person option returning on January 5th.

Students will have their laptops and schedules distributed to them on the day before Thanksgiving break, and we will remain in remote learning mode until we return from the Winter Break. We have zero COVID cases and have effectively prevented the spread of COVID on our campus so far. Part of that is an abundance of caution and avoidance of risky situations. We firmly believe that having the school in remote learning during this time is the best way to prevent the spread of COVID during the holiday season.

We urge you and your family to be safe this holiday season. If you get together with family and friends, do so safely – ideally masked and outdoors. Remember to avoid crowds and stay home whenever possible. Wash your hands thoroughly and often. We love all of our families and our students, and we want you to stay safe. We are all relying on each other to make sure we stay healthy. Thank you for doing your part.

November 1, 2020

The health and welfare of our students and staff is our number one priority. We recently became aware that an individual was diagnosed with COVID-19. This individual was at Phoenix International Academy on October 29, 2020. We have determined that the only individuals who have been in close contact with the positive COVID-19 case are our staff members. However, because multiple staff members were within 6 feet of this individual for more than 15 minutes, we will be taking the following measures. 

1. There will be no school on Monday, November 2 – this includes distance learners. All staff members will be taking this day to be tested for COVID-19 at a medical facility.

2. All students will be learning from home for the week of November 2nd. This is because of the incubation period for COVID. Even if staff members test negative today, it is early enough in the incubation period that we do not want to risk potential exposure for any student. In-person students will return to school on Monday, November 9.

CURRENT DISTANCE LEARNERS

For our distance learning students, the only substantial change is that there will be no classes tomorrow. Math programming will look slightly different, but classes and schedules will remain the same starting on November 3.   

CURRENT IN-PERSON LEARNERS

Our in-person learners will receive packets on Tuesday with directions for completion and letting them know who to contact with questions. Like at the beginning of the school year, advisors will contact students to assist them with the work every day. Breakfast and lunch will be delivered to your home starting on Monday.  

Thank you for your understanding as we do everything in our power to keep our students and our community safe. 

October 21, 2020

As you know, we review the COVID case counts Arizona Department of Health Services and the Maricopa County Department of Health every week. We keep close tabs on our school community concerning COVID and COVID symptoms. Since reopening our doors to in-person learning on September 8th, we have had zero cases of COVID on our campus. Thanks to all of you for doing your part so that we can remain open for in-person learning.
 
As a reminder, if we find out about a confirmed positive case in our student or staff community, we will notify the school community of the case. We will then separately contact the parents of students who have been close contacts of the positive case and inform them of the need to quarantine for 14 days.
 
This week, we have seen cases in the broader community go up, and it looks like they are becoming a trend. We have managed to avoid any cases on campus so far, but we cannot make the mistake of giving in to COVID fatigue. We MUST continue both our individual and group efforts to protect our students and families from COVID. To remain open, we are counting on you to: 

• Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, especially after being in a public place or after blowing your nose, coughing, or sneezing.

• Avoid close contact

  • Inside your home: Avoid close contact with people who are sick.

    • If possible, maintain 6 feet between the person who is sick and other household members.

  • Outside your home: Put 6 feet of distance between yourself and people who don't live in your household.

    • Remember that some people without symptoms may be able to spread the virus.

    • Stay at least 6 feet (about two arms' length) from other people.

    • Keeping distance from others is especially crucial for people who are at higher risk of getting very sick.

• Cover your mouth and nose with a mask when around others

  • You could spread COVID-19 to others even if you do not feel sick.

  • The mask protects other people in case you are infected.

  • Everyone should wear a mask in public settings and when around people who don't live in your household, especially when other social distancing measures are challenging to maintain.

  • Clean and disinfect

• Clean AND disinfect frequently touched surfaces daily. This includes tables, doorknobs, light switches, countertops, handles, desks, phones, keyboards, toilets, faucets, and sinks.

  • If surfaces are dirty, clean them. Use detergent or soap and water before disinfection.

  • Then, use a household disinfectant. Most common EPA-registered household disinfectants will work.

• Monitor Your Health Daily

  • Be alert for symptoms. Watch for fever, cough, shortness of breath, or other signs of COVID-19. Especially important if you are running essential errands, going into the office or workplace, and in settings where it may be challenging to keep a physical distance of 6 feet.

  • Take your temperature if symptoms develop.

As a community, we are counting on everyone to do the right thing. Please talk with your children about maintaining distance, washing hands, and keeping their masks on and clean while at school. We love having students on campus. Your kids bring us the greatest joy, and we love teaching them, but if spread in the greater community becomes too much, we may have to go back to distance learning.

September 28, 2020

We have been overwhelmingly pleased with our students' compliance with our new procedures and safety measures. While we have to remind students about distancing sometimes, they have been excellent about sanitizing their hands and spaces as well as wearing masks.

As a reminder, for this to work, we need all of our families to continue distancing and masking at home and keeping students home when they are feeling sick. While community spread is currently in the minimal/moderate range, the virus hasn't gone anywhere, and we all must continue to do our part. Our goal is to have a sustained reopen. Still, we need to understand that reverting to distance learning may be necessary if we are not responsible with prevention and communication.

On October 12th, we will welcome our students back to school, with 15 additional students choosing to join us in the in-person setting. We may need to change advisors for some students to ensure we are both meeting academic needs and COVID safety measures.

Please contact the office if you have questions or concerns!

August 31, 2020

After months of planning and preparing for this academic year, we are incredibly excited to have students back on campus for in-person instruction beginning on Tuesday, September 8th. About half of our students have elected to come to school in person, which means that we will be able to implement our COVID safety plan in extremely small groups before we are up to full capacity!

Because our students are divided evenly between distance learning and in-person learning, we will need to reconfigure our advisory groups to assign students to either an in-person or remote advisory. For this newest transition to go as smoothly as possible, we will again be hosting students on campus for testing (this time it's reading) and a second orientation. These orientations will be on Thursday and Friday of this week – and there will be no other classes on Thursday or Friday.

Please expect a call in the next day or so from your child's current advisor letting you know when they will need to be on campus for testing and orientation. As always, we will provide transportation to and from school as necessary, and students will be in small, distanced groups at school.

August 26, 2020

We have been closely monitoring the school reopening metrics and are pleased to share that we plan to reopen for in-person on Tuesday, September 8th.  Across Maricopa county, cases have been dropping, percent positives have been below 7%, and COVID - like hospitalizations- are below the concern threshold.  Provided that these trends continue, we are ready to reopen after Labor Day. 

 You can read our detailed document with our plans for mitigation here if you have not done so already.

In a quick summary of these, we are emphasizing the following:

1. Masks

2. Handwashing and Sanitizing

3. Distance

4. Screening

5. Staff Testing

 
We had an excellent trial run during orientation with one advisory group at a time. I'm delighted with the students' abilities to keep masks on properly, maintain distance, and participate in screeners.  We’ve also had small groups of students on campus for their IEP minutes and a short trial run.  Based on these experiences, we took the additional step of purchasing plexiglass barriers for tables that are in enclosed classroom spaces.  
 
Starting tomorrow, your child's advisor will be reaching out to determine if you plan to send your child in person or remain in distance learning mode.  If you choose distance learning, you must stay in the distance learning mode until we return from October break.  If you select in-person learning, you may transition to distance learning if you feel uncomfortable. Still, once you transition back to distance learning, you must remain in that learning modality until the next re-entry date. 

June 30, 2020

We’ll be hosting a Reopening Orientation to discuss:

1. Distance Learning for Start of School Year (in response to Governor Ducey’s order to delay physical start date)

2. Protocols for Safety

   • Number of students

   • Cleaning procedures

   • Temperature checks

   • Social distancing

   • Lunches

   • Masks

3. Distance Learning if Interrupted (in the event there is a school closure in the middle of the school year)

4. Transportation

Click on the buttons below for more information and the Zoom link!

May 19, 2020

Since March 2020, PIA's campus has been closed due to a state-imposed requirement to help stop the spread of the Coronavirus. As we prepare to return to school in the fall, we would like to hear from our families about how you are feeling.

We are planning that the first day of school will be August 3. When on campus, we will implement several safety precautions to maximize the safety and health of our students.

These precautions will include:
1) Temperature scanning tablets: everyone must pass the temperature screening to gain access to the school campus.
2) Strict stay-at-home policy for any child or staff member who presents signs of sickness.
3) Disinfecting all rooms and surfaces hourly.
4) Additional hand sanitizing stations with scheduled times throughout the day for supervised hand-washing.
5) Optional approved masks available/if needed.
6) Continuation and emphasis on small class sizes to facilitate social distancing.

We’d like to get a gauge on how you’re feeling about the campus reopening in August. Please complete this "Returning to Campus" survey.

March 31, 2020

The circumstances may not be ideal, but we are incredibly proud of the immediate, detailed response our team has put together in such a short time frame. We’re committed to making Distance Learning just as much of a meaningful experience as if we were still in person. Check out this video to see what #DistanceLearningatPIA is all about!

March 30, 2020

This morning, Governor Ducey and State Superintendent Hoffman announced the extension of all school closures through the end of this school year. To say that we’re heartbroken not to be seeing you all in person is an understatement, but the good news is that #DistanceLearningwithPIA is well underway and we’re working every day to make it better. One of the questions that we’ve constantly been asking ourselves throughout this year is, “How can we operationalize LOVE?” Right now, for us, this means a few things:

💜 We are committed to making sure that our students continue making authentic connections with their peers and with all PIA staff. Physical distancing is important right now, but emotional closeness is more important than ever. Our school counselor will continue all counseling services and teachers will continue to connect with students in all ways possible. One of our staff members delivers meals and needed school supplies each day and we’ve also asked him to check in with you and make sure your family doesn’t have any needs that you might need assistance with.

📚 We strongly believe that loving our students also means making sure that they keep learning. It is our duty to make sure that every student that is enrolled at our school makes the growth needed to be successful in school and life. That hasn’t changed. We will do what it takes to ensure that each of our students is learning and growing with the support of their teachers. 

We know the future is uncertain right now, but the PIA team is deeply committed to our community and our students.

March 23, 2020

Today is Day 4 of our Distance Learning initiative. We hope you know that we will continue to do everything in our power to make sure that our students are happy, loved, and learning the entire time that we are not in our building. To that end, we are SO EXCITED to be adding electives to our offerings this week. You should have received an email last night detailing how to register for classes (if you did not - please send us a message so we can get you on our list!).

Music class will take place remotely every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 3pm and Hip Hop class will take place every Tuesday and Thursdays at 3pm. These electives courses are open to ALL students, you did not have to be registered in Hip Hop or Music previously to attend!

March 20, 2020

School closures will continue through April 10. Please read our update here and look out for another email detailing how we’ll be rolling out virtual electives - starting with Hip Hop and Music!

We hope that you know that we are committed to your families and our students. Thank you for your patience and grace as we try something completely new and unexpected!

March 17, 2020

Distance learning officially begins tomorrow, March 18. At some point today, you’ll be getting a visit from a staff member to deliver your distance learning informational packet that includes teacher contact info, join codes, and expectations for daily participation and attendance. While they’ll be working from home during the school closure, our teachers are committed to providing high quality distance learning so that instruction can continue for all students. This includes our counseling services! Our school counselor will continue her groups and one-on-one sessions during the closure. We love and miss our PIA family.. and can’t wait to see you online!

March 14, 2020

Parents of PIA, we know that many of you rely on our school to provide breakfast and lunch for your children. We are committed to continue to provide you with those meals during our closure. In order to help us plan for this, please complete this short survey ASAP. We will begin making arrangements immediately.

https://forms.gle/Dv6jEYg8AnKGWkdb9

March 13, 2020

Dear PIA Community,

We currently have no known cases of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) in the PIA community. Nevertheless, given that what is most paramount for us as a community is the health and welfare of our members, we have decided that the best course of action is to take the mitigating step of transitioning to remote learning beginning Tuesday, March 17th (this was our scheduled return date from Spring Break) and for a period of at least one week.

We believe it is important to share with you the considerations and discussions we had in thoughtfully making this difficult decision and details can be viewed on our website (link in bio). We recognize that moving to remote learning is a significant decision, but we believe it is the right one.

Thank you for your patience as we navigate this rapidly evolving local and global situation together. We will continue to be in touch with updates.

March 12, 2020

Phoenix International Academy has a detailed plan, based on best practices recommended by our health consultant and created in collaboration with many of our peer schools, for tiered responses to the outbreak of infectious diseases that have the potential to affect our community. This document summarizes that plan in broad terms and can be viewed on our website (link in bio).
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As you consider the information presented here, please consider that pandemics, like other emergent situations, are fluid and ultimately unpredictable. Circumstances of a specific outbreak may be unanticipated and may call for an off-script response. While PIA has guardrails in place to help guide our responses, ultimate decision-making rests with the Executive Director, Ivette Rodriguez.

As always, the wellbeing of our students and team is our highest priority. Thank you for your continued cooperation and partnership.