COVID-19 FAQs*

Camp commitments for this summer will be calculated by the week. This means that a family may cancel for any week (or subsequent weeks) up to the Friday prior to the following Monday of the week they will be cancelling, and they will receive a full refund.

Yes, families may be able to enroll children for camp later in the summer, but please know that space is even more limited this summer, as Levine, like all schools operating day camps, must abide by the State’s new mandated student-to-teacher ratios for this summer. This means by necessity that Levine’s camp enrollment will be smaller this summer.

Levine will refund families on a prorated basis all camp days that are cancelled due to a class-grouping or age-level or school-wide cancellation in response to any COVID-related issue. Please read the FAQ’s on school closure protocols below in this FAQ section.

Yes, for this summer Levine will be refunding any days in which a child must remain home or absent in the event of contracting COVID-19. Should any child be pulled from camp prior to the end of that camp week for any reason other than an immediate family member’s contraction of COVID, there will be no refund for that particular week.

Yes, Levine will hire a nurse or nurses, at least one of whom will be on campus during each day camp is in session. These nurses, among them nurses who have been regularly employed by Levine in the past, are all registered nurses. Their chief role will be to serve as ongoing monitor of camp students and personnel, to identify and isolate any individual who exhibits COVID-19 symptoms, to use all CDC-issued precautions when caring for sick people, and to assist in identifying those who have been in direct contact with the sick individual. In addition, the nurse will communicate with families on situations that arise, keep track of follow-up testing, and to maintain communication with the family throughout the recuperation or recovery process. Additionally, the nurse will fulfill standard duties of administering to any needs, perform triage, administer first-aid, and communicate with families as necessary.

Levine has established procedures to ensure students and staff who become sick at school or who arrive at school sick are sent home as soon as possible.  We will keep anyone sick separate from well students and staff until the sick person can be sent home.

Should any staff person or student or a staff member’s or student’s immediate family member has COVID-19, the school will immediately notify health officials. These officials will help administrators determine the best course of action for the school. We will likely dismiss students in that classroom grouping or age level and most staff for 2-5 days. This initial short-term dismissal allows time for the local health officials to gain a better understanding of the COVID-19 situation impacting the school and for custodial staff to clean and disinfect the affected facilities. Work with the local health officials to determine appropriate next steps, including whether an extended dismissal duration, is needed to stop or slow further spread of COVID-19.

The child, under these circumstances, must remain home until fully recovered from the cold or illness, with a doctor’s note necessary for return to camp.

Families travelling will not be required to quarantine for 14 days, but families with children returning to camp following a trip must monitor their children for any symptoms relevant to COVID-19. Should the child be exhibiting any symptoms, that child must remain home and may return only with a physician’s authorization.

Here is a core list of protocols:

• Carpool only for drop-off and pick-up.
• No visitors during the camp day.
• Screening upon entrance for both students and staff; screening checks throughout the day.
• Frequent regimen of hand-washing and respiratory etiquette throughout the day.
• Cloth face coverings to be worn by staff and older students when feasible.
• Daily cleaning and sanitizing by maintenance staff.
• Frequent outdoor play and fresh air whenever possible indoors.
• Both camps are eliminating nearly all outside vendors, outside entertainers, and all field trips.

Drop-off will look similar to what Levine has done in the past; however: drop off will be carpool only; adults will be wearing face masks; and no parent may enter the building with his/her child. To ease the transition and to help establish routines, each child’s teacher will be participating in carpool. Prior to entering the building, each child will be screened by the nurse, and there will be a hand-washing station that all will use before entering. We knows this will all be new for students, but with the staff’s cheerful tone, upbeat décor and music, the drop-off experience will soon become expected and fun.

Teachers and counselors will be monitoring snack and lunch times to make sure that no sharing of food takes place at all. Student tables and positioning at each table will be arranged in such a way as to assure separation. Following each snack or lunch time, tables will be cleaned and sanitized by staff.

Those “in contact,” meaning those who will be standing in close proximity to camp children, will be kept to a minimum. An assigned drop-off and pick-up camp staff member, plus the assigned classroom teachers for that child, will be the usual few staff members in close proximity. Other camp and school personnel, such as administrators, the camp director, or the nurse, will be observing and monitoring frequently, but these observations will be done from a safe distance, meaning the doorway to the classroom or from the hallway peering into the classroom window, or from a perimeter location inside any of the other school rooms used during the day.

We ask that you call the camp director’s cell phone number; you may also call the main school number and the receptionist will transfer the call or contact the camp director or other school administrator via walkie talkie or via the PA system.

There will be several tiers of oversight and monitoring this summer—Camp Directors, Nurses, and a new Administrator-On-Call system will assure that each day at camp will have oversight and monitoring taking place throughout the campus.

Physicians have been central to all agencies involved in issuing health protocols, minimum standards, and school decision processes—from the CDC’s evolving website, which includes a decision-making tool seen HERE,  to the Governor’s “strike force” looking into opening summer schools and camps. The school remained in frequent communication with representatives from the Texas Private School Association, who provided frequent updates on the State’s decision-making process.  In addition to these agencies, Levine maintains on-going communication and consultation with its Board members who are physicians. Since March the school has participated weekly in national webinars and podcasts featuring leading medical professionals. The school has also worked closely with its legal team specializing in independent schools on a variety of topics relative to COVID, school liability, and employment practices.