Page 8
Spilyay Tymoo, Warm Springs, Oregon
September 9, 2020
Warm Springs Early Childhood Center covid safety plan
The Warm Springs Early
Childhood Education takes
the health and safety of our
employees and families very
seriously.
With the spread of the
coronavirus or Covid-19, the
respiratory disease caused by
the SARS-CoV-2 virus,
Warm Springs Early Child-
hood Education must re-
main vigilant in mitigating
the outbreak.
We have been deemed
“essential” during this De-
clared National Emergency.
In order to be safe and main-
tain operations, we have de-
veloped this Covid-19 Expo-
sure Prevention, Prepared-
ness, and Response Plan to
be implemented, to the ex-
tent feasible and appropriate.
Plan elements
Constant disinfection of
all toys, high-touch surfaces,
and outdoor equipment be-
tween individual use as well
as the classroom is our new
policy.
All of our teachers have
been trained on these new
Covid-19 guidelines prior to
opening our doors and as
Centers for Disease Control-
Oregon Health Authority
guidelines evolve they will
be kept up to date on any
changes.
Each of our classrooms
are considered ‘stable
groups,’ meaning they do not
have interactions with chil-
dren or teachers from other
classrooms.
Each of our stable groups
has a designated pick up/
drop off time which is stag-
gered to prevent overcrowd-
ing at the front of the build-
My name is Kim
Schmith and as a
candidate
for
Jefferson County
Commissioner I be-
lieve it is vital I be
accessible to our
communities
throughout the cam-
paigning cycle and
beyond, to better
hear the vision of the
residents
of
Jefferson County.
I have specifically
been asked by sev-
eral people in the
Warm Springs com-
munity to come and
sit, to be publicly
available for people
ing. If a child misses their
drop off time the parent/
guardian can enter the build-
ing wearing a mask, and a
front desk staff member will
take the child to their class-
room.
We have incorporated
Google Classrooms for our
Head Start 2020-2021 year
and are offering distance
learning. The links to these
classrooms are on our
website at all times, please call
for your code to join.
Every parent and guard-
ian will be asked health ques-
tions regarding Covid-19. If
there is a concerning symp-
tom or answer during those
health questions parents and
guardians will be instructed
to have the child tested and
receive a negative Covid test
before they can re-enter the
building.
Upon entering the build-
ing from drop off, playground
time, or a walk each class-
room has been instructed to
wash their hands. Because
of the increase in hand wash-
ing
we
have
extra
handwashing
stations
throughout the building.
Each class has access to
their own bathroom area to
ensure there is no secondary
mixing of stable groups via
high touch surfaces in the
stalls or sinks.
During meal times we
have eliminated family style
meals and each child is given
options from all food types
by their teacher or teachers
that is handled by them alone.
Those staff who are not
a part of any of our stable
groups are required to be in
full PPE and wash and sani-
to voice their visions of
Jefferson County and
how, if I have the honor
tize their hands before en-
tering a classroom. This in-
cludes staff who are con-
ducting health checks, float-
ers/roavers, janitorial staff,
coaches, visiting parents, ect.
Our janitorial staff disin-
fect all outdoor equipment
between classroom use as
well as constantly wipe down
all high touch surface areas
in the hallways and lobby
area. They complete rounds
every hour and are assigned
to their own designated pod
or area within the building.
All staff have been
trained to call into the build-
ing before their shift to no-
tify the front desk and coor-
dinators if they are experi-
encing any of the Covid-19
symptoms to prevent con-
tamination.
We are doing ongoing ran-
dom Covid-19 testing of our
staff per Tribal regulations.
These measures have
been put in place to ensure
that in the event of a posi-
tive case within our building
that the exposure is limited
to a single classroom instead
of the entire building. Ac-
cording to the Centers for
Disease Control and the Or-
egon Health Authority guide-
lines— because we have
stable groups with limited ac-
cess to other classrooms and
areas in the event of an ex-
posure—we are only required
to close that area while the
rest of the building remains
open.
We found that disinfect-
ing the entire building ensures
the safety of our families and
staff in that there is no ques-
tion if their area was cleaned
or not.
of serving as Jefferson
County Commissioner, I
can best serve the people
In the event that a Covid-
19 positive staff member or
child is in our building or a
staff member or child
comes in contact with a
Covid-19 positive person
outside of work hours, we
have a plan in place. This
plan includes two scenarios
and procedures for potential
Covid-19 contamination
within our building and they
will be broken down as such.
Scenario 1:
In the event one of our
teachers, staff or children
comes in direct contact with
a person who has tested posi-
tive for Covid-19 outside of
school-child care hours:
We will confirm with IHS
and Community Health who
the Covid-19 positive person
is along with the contamina-
tion level of our staff or
families.
That person or family will
be immediately told to go
test and be put on a manda-
tory two week quarantine.
If any symptoms appear
within that 14-day quarantine
they will be asked to test
again.
They will now be consid-
ered presumptive positive.
Scenario 2 will be started.
If no symptoms appear
within that 14 day quaran-
tine they will be re-admitted
into the building with a nega-
tive Covid-19 test document
submitted.
No notification will be is-
sued to any staff or family
as this person is not positive
for the virus.
Teachers/staff in the
classroom/area are already
cleaning, disinfecting, using
of Warm Springs.
I’ll be sitting at a
table diagonally across
from the post office on
Thursday, Septem-
ber 24 th from 4-
5:30pm, Monday,
October 5 th from 3-
4pm, and Wednes-
day, October 14 th
from 4-5:30pm.
People are always
welcome to send me
an email:
kimschmith26@gmail.
com.
Please Contact me
if there is a specific
event you would like
me to attend.
Kim Schmith
gloves, and keeping their dis-
tance so no other steps need
to be taken.
Scenario 2:
In the event one of our
teachers, staff of children
tests positive for Covid-19
and has been in their class-
room or other building ar-
eas:
If a teacher, staff or
child who on a mandatory
two week quarantine comes
back positive we will double
confirm their positive with
IHS and Community
Health.
If a teacher or staff
member does a random test
and comes back positive we
will confirm with IHS and
Community Health.
We will assess the child or
staff member’s range of ex-
posure within the building
and immediately notify fami-
lies and co-workers who had
direct contact with the
teacher, staff member or
child and instruct them to
test and to go into a two-
week quarantine.
If an exposure happens
in your child’s classroom,
you will be notified immedi-
ately.
If you do not receive a
text or email from us regard-
ing exposure and to be tested
then your child or children,
and classroom was not ex-
posed to the virus via the
Covid-19 positive teacher,
staff member or child.
We will immediately con-
tact Russell Graham to no-
tify him that one of our
classrooms or other areas
has been contaminated with
Covid-19 and needs clean-
ing.
Our building will be im-
mediately shut down for
cleaning.
As soon as our building
is clean and given the green
light, we will open back up.
An email or text will go out
to our families informing
them of our status. Our
website and public calendar
will be updated as well.
However, the classroom
or area where the contami-
nation occurred will remain
shut down for the entire
two-week period.
If your child is in Head
Start and their classroom is
shut down for quarantine
online classes will remain in
effect for those two weeks
to ensure all children have
access to their daily lessons.
Please reach out to staff
to get access to your child’s
online classroom or visit our
website for the direct link.
This is a living document
and as such plans are sub-
ject to change due to evolv-
ing CDC/OHA guidelines.
The most current informa-
tion will be updated once we
have received it. If you
have any questions or con-
cerns please feel free to con-
tact us at 541-553-3242,
email or visit us on our
website where this document
will be posted.
Sincerely,
Shyrelle
Hur tado,
Health Coordinator, Warm
Springs Early Childhood
Education, 1257 Kot-num
Rd/P.O. Box C, War m
Springs.
s.hurtado@wstribes.org
Toward extension of the
Columbia Basin fish accords
Tribal, federal and state
officials are negotiating an
extension of the Columbia
Basin fish accords, but some
entities are urging Idaho
Gov. Brad Little to not sign
anything that could under-
cut his Salmon Workgroup.
The diverse group of
stakeholders is entering the
home stretch of its more
than one year of meetings,
brainstorming and collabo-
ration aimed at delivering a
set of salmon recovery
policy recommendations to
the governor.
The accords, first signed
in 2008, are agreements
among individual states and
tribes and the so-called ac-
tion agencies—the Army
Corps of Engineers, Bureau
of Reclamation and the
Bonneville Power Adminis-
tration. In part, the states
and tribes agreed to publicly
support the federal govern-
ment’s plans to blend dam
operation with the needs of
the fish, and to settle any dif-
ferences out of court. In
exchange, the states and
tribes received billions of
dollars of funding for
salmon recovery projects.
The accords were ex-
tended in 2018, but are set
to expire next month when
the federal government is-
sues its final plan, known as
a record of decision, to op-
erate Snake and Columbia
river dams in a way that
doesn’t put the fish at fur-
ther risk of extinction.
Little’s Salmon Work-
group is scheduled to deliver
a set of policy recommen-
dations in about four months
that are expected to aim con-
siderably higher—at actions
that could lead to recovery
of Idaho’s wild anadromous
fish runs to healthy and
harvestable numbers.