Oaks Christian has been preparing, and was ready, to welcome all students back on campus for the first day of school, Wednesday, Aug. 12. As a licensed school in the State of California, we are subject to various state, county, and city mandates and regulations. As such, the recent proclamation by the governor and subsequent restrictions imposed by the Los Angeles County Department of Health has directly impact on our ability to open as planned.

As you may know, this action has resulted in numerous appeals and pending lawsuits. The school has been in constant discussions with our legal counsel, and other advisors, to explore potential challenges to the state and county’s closing orders. It appears that, although several lawsuits have been filed, the governor and the county have the legal standing to prevent both public and private schools from operating.

One bright hope is that the governor’s order includes an elementary school ‘waiver provision’ that may allow us to open in-classroom instruction for our fifth and sixth grade classes. We plan to immediately file for this waiver once the application instructions become available. While we are confident that we can meet all waiver requirements, it is unknown at this time how long it will take for our application to be processed and approved. For that reason, we are planning for, and assuming, that we need to start with remote learning for our fifth and sixth grade classes until our waiver request is approved.

We believe Oaks Christian delivers exceptional remote learning. We also believe, however, that learning is most effective when students are fully engaged, face-to-face with a dedicated and committed teacher, in a live environment with their fellow students. We also believe that students social wellness and emotional well-being are increased when they are in community with their peers and teachers.

Scientific and pediatric studies have shown a relatively lower risk of adolescents contracting the COVID-19 virus, a reduced severity of the disease manifestation in young people, and a lower occurrence of transmission of the virus from young people to adults. We believe that the school, upon listening to and in consultation with health safety experts, is well-prepared and well-positioned to take reasonable precautions for the health and safety of our students, faculty and staff.

We have committed more than $4 million in preparing the campus to open this August. Improvements include, but are not limited to:

• Acquisition of modular classrooms to enable middle school distancing
• Acquisition of a modular medical/quarantine triage facility
• Acquisition of classroom space at Calvary Community Church to enable high school distancing
• Social distancing projects including, but not limited to: personal protective equipment; dividers; social-emotional wellness area; food delivery systems; student traffic routing plans; campus signage, and hand cleaning stations
• Plumbing touch point reductions throughout the campus (e.g. toilets, sinks, faucets, drinking fountains, bottle re-filling stations, etc.)
• New and enhanced deep cleaning systems and protocols
• Live stream equipment
• Thermal-graphic camera testing systems
• Classroom “Owls” state-of-the-art cameras for distance/remote learning
• Classroom TVs
• Additional faculty staffing related to smaller class sizes

We believe strongly that our primary responsibility is to provide a safe and healthy learning environment for both the academic learning and social-emotional health and well-being of our students. To that end, we have focused efforts to prepare the school in the following areas:

Social Distancing – Oaks Christian started this process with a significant advantage over other schools given that our average class size (pre-COVID-19) was 16-18 students per class. In preparation for the return to campus, the school has acquired additional classroom space (new modular classrooms for the middle school and classroom space located in Calvary Community Church for the high school) that has enabled us to further reduce our average class size to 12-15 students per class, all “socially-distanced” appropriately with 6’ spacing.

Deep Cleaning Systems and Protocols – Cleaning/disinfecting protocols have been significantly increased. Child-safe disinfectants have been obtained and will be sprayed using hydrostatic sprayers throughout the campus. Janitorial services will include daily deep cleaning, mid-day cleaning, and immediate after class cleaning of all classrooms and common areas.

Temperature Scanning – Sophisticated thermal-graphic cameras have been installed throughout the entire campus. Temperatures will be taken for everyone (students, faculty and staff, visitors). Anyone with a fever will not be allowed to enter/remain on campus.

Face Masks/Face Shields – The school is required to follow the health and safety requirements of the State of California and the Los Angeles County Health Department. Currently, these requirements state that all students and adults must wear face masks/shields when on school property. Masks may be removed (following socially distancing protocols) while eating and while participating in outdoor activities. The school has designed all classrooms to accommodate 6’ social distancing so should the order be modified to allow for mask removal in classrooms, we will be ready.

Personal Hygiene – The school will require the students and faculty and staff to frequently engage in hand washing and to practice good personal hygiene to protect themselves against the virus. To this end, the school has made significant infrastructure changes to the campus: improved positive airflow and air circulation with the school’s air handler equipment; converted bathroom facilities to “touchless” technology; replaced drinking fountains with filling stations; installed hand sanitizer devices throughout the campus and in every classroom, and developed deep and interim cleaning protocols for all classrooms and common spaces, etc.

Infrastructure and Technology – The school has undertaken significant investments including, but not limited to: live stream equipment; thermal-graphic camera systems; ‘Meeting Owl’ classroom interactive camera systems; classroom laptops and tablets; classroom TV’s, social distancing signage, and modular classrooms.

Social-Emotional Health Emphasis - As a new service this year, Oaks Christian is starting a Social-Emotional Health and Wellness Center under the leadership of Associate Head of School for Spiritual Life Dee Dee Mayer.  She is expanding our programs to specifically identify, monitor and assist families in obtaining help in matters related to a student’s emotional health and well-being..

Many public schools simply have no way of complying with social distancing guidelines given public school’s large class sizes. Fortunately, Oaks Christian has always maintained small class sizes and we were able to add additional classrooms (and faculty) to make sure we have plenty of space to socially distance.

Oaks Christian has worked to create three potential learning paths for families to choose depending on their individual comfort level with coming back to the classroom. These options are as follows:

In-Class Learning – The school has worked incredibly hard to provide our families a safe and healthy way back to what we believe is the best learning opportunity for students. Through this option, students will return to the campus to engage in one-to-one learning from their teachers in a classroom of appropriately socially distanced peers. With a class average size of 12-15, students will, once again, be person-to-person in a live, engaging OCS classroom.

Remote/Hybrid Learning - For families whose child suffers from an underlying health condition, who have aging adults living in the home or who are simply nervous about their child returning to the classroom, we have developed a state-of-the-art remote visual and audio platform that will allow their student to virtually enter the classroom, engage with the teacher, and virtually collaborate with their peers. Although not necessarily available (or appropriate) for all elective classes, our students will be able to participate remotely for their core classes and not fall behind. (principal approval for participating in this “limited-seat” option is required)

Oaks Christian Online – Now operating in its ninth year, Oaks Christian Online is an excellent choice for those families who require the most “time flexibility” and whose student is highly independent and self-motivated. With face-to-face instructor interaction only once a week, this option allows students to work at their own pace.

The school recognizes that the wearing of face masks and face shields is a highly emotive matter and that our families hold strong personal views as to the effectiveness or detrimental effect of requiring face masks. Please be aware that the school has undertaken significant measures, both in infrastructure changes and student protocols, to minimize the need for wearing face masks while maintaining the appropriate level of social distancing. As mentioned earlier, the school must and will comply with all mandates (not just recommendations) of the Los Angeles County Department of Health as one of the school’s governing authorities. At this time, the Los Angeles County Department of Health is requiring face masks (or face shields in some cases) to be worn by students and adults when on school property.

Middle School – The OCMS competes in several leagues, whose decisions to play are still unknown. If, however, interscholastic play is not possibly at the middle school level, OCMS will endeavor to provide students with intramural athletic opportunities once we return to campus.

High School – Oaks Christian’s athletic programs are subject to the jurisdiction and control of the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF). While we remain fully committed to our OCS athletes and their sports, we must comply with the mandates of the CIF. The CIF recently announced that all athletic programs will be moved to the winter and spring, with first practices taking place in mid-December.

Oaks Christian remains fully committed to embracing a full and vibrant performing arts program once we return to campus. To this end, our performing arts faculty and staff are working hard to develop exciting programs, instruction and performance opportunities for our students that can be achieved in an appropriate social-distanced manner. We are exploring ways to create a series of smaller performances that would both allow a greater number of students to participate, and also would allow parents to attend these events.

We are currently working with the school’s food service/lunch provider to structure a program where students can order their lunches a month in advance (or up to 9:00pm the evening before) and then have it delivered to their classroom/home room/advisory. Once we return to campus, we anticipate that all students will eat lunch either in their classrooms, or in some other pre-arranged and socially distanced space. The school DOES NOT anticipate that either of the school’s cafeterias will be in normal operation this year.

Parent partnership, always a great hallmark of the Oaks Christian parent community, will be critical to the success of the 2020-21 academic year. This is going to be a very challenging year for the students, teachers, parents and the school. Here are some ways to start coming together once we return to on-campus learning:

• Start talking to your student about the changes they can expect when returning to campus
• If possible, we would love for parent volunteers to be available for lunch supervision and other opportunities to give teachers an opportunity for a short break during the day
• Talk to your child’s principal and see how you can help
• Pay attention to your child’s level of stress and anxiety this year. We can help, but you know your child the best
• Lastly, sit down with your child and help them to understand that the small thing of “being kind” is going to be a big factor of how this next year will go for them. It’s going to be important that our students and teachers to come together, work together, laugh together and trust each other. There will be lots of opportunities to be frustrated and “bully each other” as we walk this road together. The community (students, teachers, parents, and administrators) needs to be ‘One Oaks Christian.’

Financial support through donations will continue to be a critical part of our operations. Donations provided by our community will be prioritized in two main areas: 

1. Added costs associated with campus improvements and re-opening
2. Financial support for families in need due to the COVID-19 pandemic and economic downturn

When we return to campus there will be a limited number of volunteer opportunities and assistance needed both remote and on-campus. More information will be forthcoming about getting involved.

To make a donation to support the Oaks Christian School community, please click here. If you have any questions regarding giving, getting involved or how you can make an impact, please contact our Chief Development Officer, Eddie Moore, emoore@oakschristian.org, or another member of our advancement team.