Following Head of School Than Healy’s Oct. 19 announcement of the approval of the reopening plans, many students, staff and families at Menlo have expressed excitement about going back to campus, but others have shared their apprehension at resuming in-person classes due to health and safety concerns. However, no matter their attitude towards the introduction of hybrid learning, Menlo families were able to seek clarification about safety precautions during the recent hybrid learning Town Hall session.

The school has also outlined several health and safety measures in Menlo’s Back to Campus Plan. “We started with the County guidelines and requirements as well as those of the [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)] and then filtered them through our own Medical Advisory Board, which we formed to help us to make medical decisions during the pandemic,” school nurse and health coordinator Joan Barada said in an email to The Coat of Arms.

According to the plan, anyone entering campus must wear a mask covering their mouth and nose and may not remove it unless they are eating in a designated socially-distanced area. “Students will be reminded of mask etiquette throughout the day,” according to the plan.

To help meet mask needs, Menlo has partnered with Cintas, a rental face mask service that provides mask delivery and sanitation. Teachers will also be able to request face shields and plexiglass dividers for additional protection. Hand sanitizer dispensers are available in every room, and two outdoor hand washing stations will be implemented on the quad and near the athletic fields. Frequent hand-washing is highly encouraged by the administration.

Menlo has added four additional janitors to the janitorial staff, who have been trained on CDC guidance. “Frequently touched surfaces will be deep cleaned daily and additional on-call cleanings will be available,” according to the plan. Menlo will provide disinfecting wipes and Botanical brand disinfectant spray. “Students and faculty will be trained in disinfecting their individually assigned workstations at the end of every class period,” the plan said. 

Menlo’s heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system has been upgraded to follow CDC guidelines that will ensure ample classroom ventilation. The HVAC system now complies with a MERV-13 air filter rating. A filter has to catch 90% of particles between 3-10 µm, 80% of particles between 1-3 µm and 50% of particles between 0.3-1 µm In order to be classified as MERV-13, according to the National Air Filtration Association. Windows and doors will also be kept open when possible to allow for air circulation, but in the event of unhealthy air quality, campus will close, and the community will resume online learning until the air quality index is low enough to return to campus, as stated in the plan. 

“Our approach works holistically: if you take any one component out (ventilation, mask wearing, regular hand washing, physical distancing, student and family choices off campus) the whole system falls apart pretty quickly,” Barada said.

While Menlo will enforce safety precautions on campus, it is up to individual families to make sure the community stays safe. “In terms of how students and families conduct themselves off campus, that is of course their business, but if we wish to be back on campus, we need to work together to keep each other safe and to keep campus open,” Barada said. 

With other schools in the Bay Area introducing hybrid learning, the Menlo administration is trying to avoid repeating the mistakes of other communities. “We already know of a school in Marin that had to close for two weeks due to unsafe student behavior, and we trust that our community will be more thoughtful and responsible than that,” Barada said. “The guidelines are simple and unchanging: wear a mask, socialize outside if you must and at a distance.”