Health and Safety at HMM

Why we need this page:

COVID 19 and tragic school shootings across the country has changed the way our city and our school thinks about keeping our school safe. We need this page because there are updates and extra steps our school takes to keep our students safe. And you deserve to know we're doing and to provide input as needed.

 

Frequently Asked Questions about COVID:

Is there social distancing?

No. There is not mandated social distancing in our school or any schools in NYC at this time.

Are students expected to wear masks?

No, but we encourage families to make the best decisions for their students and families. If families decide that their student should wear masks, we support them in doing so.

Why do we still do health screeners and will this continue?

We do health screeners to help ensure that students are physically well before entering the school. At the time of publication (august 2022) health screeners will continue. https://healthscreening.schools.nyc/

What does HMM do in particular to help decrease the spread of COVID

We have continual conversations with students about how they are feeling, how they are eating and how they are sleeping. Knowledge about this helps us to support students to make healthier choices and remain as healthy as possible. We also help direct the flow of movement in our building to limit unnecessary interactions between students of different classes.

Frequently Asked Questions about what our school does to protect against school shootings:

 

What is the protocol if there is a school shooter in the building?

Over the loud speaker we call out lock down. During a lock down all teachers are prepared to lock the doors and all students are instructed to move away from the windows. All students and staff are to remain silent and out of view until the lock down is lifted. This protocol is practiced at least 4x each year.

What conversations do we have with students about school shootings?

We think it is important to support students to have conversations that they and their families are ready for them to have. We do not start conversations with students about school shootings instead, staff is  ready to listen and watch for a range of emotions and questions students may have. Based on this and ongoing dialogue with families, our Staff is ready to engage in conversations with students in the way that they are ready to have them.

As always, please let us know if you have questions, concerns or ideas around ways to keep our staff, families and students safe in our building.