FAQs

We are implementing a variety of reasonable changes to protect the health and safety of LCCS students and employees while minimizing the disruption to students’ education.

Temperature Checks - All employees, students, and visitors will have their temperature checked upon entering the school building each day. Anyone with a temperature of 100.0° will not be permitted to remain at school. That individual must remain home until they have been fever-free for a period of 24 hours (not masked by medication).

School Attendance - We are directing parents to keep their child home when they are sick or not feeling well (fever, body aches or chills, cough, sore throat, headache, loss of taste or smell, upset stomach, or diarrhea, etc.).  To accommodate for increased absenteeism, provisions are being made for students to actively participate in their classroom education when they are unable to be in the building.  

Personal Hygiene - Students will be instructed to wash or sanitize their hands frequently, including but not limited to: at the start of each school day, before and after lunch, and before and after recess. Hand sanitizer is supplied for students to use when they enter or leave the classroom. Additional hand sanitizing stations have been installed around the building. Students may bring their own hand sanitizer if they prefer.

Campus Cleaning - Each classroom and common space has been equipped with disinfectant and microfiber cloths. Student desks will be cleaned each time students leave/enter the classroom. Frequently-touched surfaces will be cleaned by employees throughout the day. All school spaces will be treated using a hospital-grade disinfectant electrostatic system.

Social Distancing - Classrooms are being rearranged to increase social distancing between student desks and learning centers. In addition, procedures are being developed to encourage social distancing in hallways and group spaces.  

Masks - Due to the PA Department of Health (DOH) update and the PA Secretary of Health’s Face Covering Order, wearing masks will be required for LCCS students. However, there will also be times throughout the day when masks do not need to be worn. The specific exemptions to this order, including medical exemptions, can be found in Section 3 of the Secretary of Health’s Face Covering Order. The individual decision regarding these exemptions is left with you, as the parents, in regards to your children. The PDE’s announcement also allows face-covering breaks throughout the school day, recess, athletics, PE classes, and when eating or drinking while properly socially distanced. It has been and will continue to be LCCS policy that students are permitted to have water bottles and snacks throughout the school day. Students are also encouraged to take “face-covering breaks” as needed when maintaining proper social distancing. LCCS is committed to building and enforcing a culture of acceptance about mask-wearing. Employees are required to wear a face shield. They may also choose to wear a mask instead of or in addition to the provided face shield.

School Nurse - LCCS is seeking to hire a part-time nurse to assist in monitoring community health and provide needed care to our students.  Please pray that the Lord provides us with the right person for this job.

LCCS families must notify LCCS if they plan to travel to a state listed on the PA quarantine list. Students will be required to quarantine for 7 days upon their return. If a student will need to miss school, a pre-approved absence form must be completed at least two weeks before the proposed date of the absence. Final arrangements for travel should not be confirmed until approval of the absence has been received.

LCCS employees may not travel to states on the PA quarantine list.

It is our intention to keep LCCS open unless excessive absenteeism warrants closure or governmental authorities mandate school closure.

Yes. The LCCS head of school and principals are working on developing virtual education so that students are able to participate in their classes when they are unable to be in the building.

Due to the PA Department of Health (DOH) update and the PA Secretary of Health’s Face Covering Order, wearing masks will be required for LCCS students. However, there will also be times throughout the day when masks do not need to be worn. The specific exemptions to this order, including medical exemptions, can be found in Section 3 of the Secretary of Health’s Face Covering Order. The individual decision regarding these exemptions are left with you, as the parents, in regards to your children. The PDE’s announcement also allows face-covering breaks throughout the school day, recess, athletics, PE classes, and when eating or drinking while properly socially distanced. It has been and will continue to be LCCS policy that students are permitted to have water bottles and snacks throughout the school day. Students are also encouraged to take “face-covering breaks” as needed when maintaining proper social distancing.

Employees are required to wear a face shield. It is important that students feel comfortable and that they are able to see teachers’ facial expressions and mouth movements. Therefore, clear face shields will be provided for all employees. They may choose to wear a mask in addition to or instead of the provided face shield.

Classrooms are being rearranged to increase social distancing between student desks and learning centers. Dots are being placed on the floor of all hallways and lobbies as well as the cafeteria benches. We will regularly remind students that social distancing is an important aspect of reducing the transmission of COVID-19.

Hand washing and sanitation will be a part of student’s and teacher’s daily practices. Students will be instructed to wash or sanitize their hands frequently, including but not limited to: at the start of each school day, before and after lunch, and after recess. They will be reminded to wash or sanitize their hands after touching a commonly used item (stapler, pencil sharpener, shared supplies, etc.) and after coughing or sneezing.

Hand sanitizer is supplied for students to use when they enter or leave the classroom. Additional hand sanitizing stations have been installed around the building, and students may bring their own hand sanitizer if they prefer.

All of these scenarios require that you follow your physician’s orders. If a health-care provider directs you or someone in your household to self-quarantine or if COVID-19 testing is conducted, you must notify LCCS immediately.

If a student is under investigation or has a positive COVID-19 test result, they must follow CDC guidelines for self-quarantine.

If the COVID-19 test results come back negative, the student may return to school as soon as they receive physician’s approval to do so. The family must submit the negative test results and physician’s approval to LCCS.

When a student is off-campus, they will have access to their lessons and should plan to participate in their classes if they are healthy enough to do so.

Each potential exposure or occurrence of COVID-19 does not require the closing of school or the suspension of classes. However, in order to be transparent, we will inform you of potential exposure to COVID-19.  In order to do this efficiently, a general Possible COVID-19 Exposure Notification Email will be sent to families who have students that may have had a contact exposure during the course of the school day.  This email will focus on maintaining the privacy of the student and/or family that is “under investigation” for COVID-19 (the phrase being used when a person has been screened and tested for COVID-19 but the result is not yet known). This allows families to be aware of a possible exposure. Families are encouraged to monitor for symptoms and to contact their physician in the event that they are concerned about their own health. It is important to understand this process of potential contact and exposure notification as it may become a regular occurrence this school year.

A follow up email will be sent after test results are confirmed.

Students who test negative for COVID-19 may return to school as soon as they receive physician’s approval to do so. The family must submit the negative test results and physician’s approval to LCCS.

A family must communicate to their principal if a student has been exposed to someone who tests positive for COVID-19. Exposed students must follow physician’s recommendations for quarantining.

We are encouraging all families to carefully self-monitor for symptoms and be abundantly cautious about interacting with others. We will not be able to report every possible COVID exposure, but we will report every time a student or employee is under investigation.

Yes. Families will be notified if a student or teacher their child is in contact with tests positive for COVID-19. That class/grade level will quarantine until the student or teacher is permitted to return to school. Students will have access to their lessons via Google Classroom so that they can continue to progress academically while under quarantine.

We will follow recommendations from CDC and medical professionals that do not require "second-degree contacts" to quarantine. Siblings of students in a class/grade who need to quarantine are second-degree contacts, and are therefore not required to quarantine. Additionally, we will not require students who have had minimal contact with the positive student to quarantine. Minimal contact is defined as not having contact within 6 feet for more than 15 minutes at a time. As always, we encourage you to reach out to your physician and follow their recommendations, if you have questions regarding your student. If you choose to keep your child home as a precaution, students will have access to their lessons which will allow the them to continue to progress academically.

Everyone’s temperature will be checked upon arrival. Anyone who temps at 100.0° will be sent home. If a student temps high when checked in the morning, they will be sent to the nook in the main lobby where they will be rechecked after 3-5 minutes. (We understand that sometimes infrared thermometers get a high reading if an individual has been in a hot car or is coming in on a hot day.) If the temperature is still high, they will be scanned a third time. At that point a parent will be contacted, and the child will be sent home. If they temp below 100.0°, they will be permitted to go to class.

Yes. The LCCS head of school and principals are working on developing virtual education so that students are able to participate in their classes when they are unable to be in the building.

An important component of limiting the impact of COVID-19 on our school communities is parents’ vigilance about their child’s health. We want to affirm parental responsibility in monitoring your child’s symptoms and overall health as well as parental discretion in keeping your child out of school on any given day because of suspected illness. Excessive absenteeism will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis.

You are required to keep your child home if they have a fever of 100.0° or higher, body aches or chills, cough, sore throat, headache, loss of taste or smell, upset stomach, or diarrhea, etc.

Principals and faculty are currently developing a plan so that when a student is off-campus, they will have access to virtual education. This new plan will provide students with more access to teacher instruction and the classroom experience than our platforms allowed during our spring 2020 distance learning. Details and expectations for virtual education will be communicated as the plan is finalized. We hope to have it fully functional to practice during our first online school day on October 12.

Through virtual education, we intend for students to be able to more fully participate in their classes and interact with their teachers when they are absent so that they can keep pace. While they may have makeup work to complete when they return to school, it should be minimized. We will work with each individual student to help them manage their workload as needed.

If you are interested in a hybrid school week (a few days at school and a few days at home), you’re in luck! We currently offer a University Model^® program for lower school students and a 4-Day program for middle and upper school students. These programs offer students the unique blend of an in-person LCCS education as well as the benefits of intentional, teacher directed at-home learning. Contact Mrs. Shawaryn, admissions coordinator, if you are interested in this option for your child.

We know that our community has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic in a variety of ways, including financially. As we prepare to return to in-person education on August 24, the administration and board are closely monitoring the LCCS financial situation. However, as always, we encourage you to reach out and communicate your needs with us, and we will evaluate needs on a case-by-case basis.

LCCS students will continue to be dropped off and picked up using the main lobby, back lobby, and science lab entrances. The carpool line will operate similarly to last year. Early childhood & lower school students will enjoy play time in the classroom/gym. Middle & upper school students remain socially distanced once they enter the building. All students will be socially distant while waiting to be picked up in the afternoon.

Students who use public-school transportation must follow that district’s guidelines for bussing.

The LCCS shuttle between LCCS and Anchor Christian Academy/Calvary Baptist Church at 530 Milton Rd, Lancaster will operate on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. Commit to use the shuttle at lccs.cc/shuttle.

Over three lunch periods, smaller lunch shifts will be held in the lower level lunch room. Spots are marked on the cafeteria benches so that students know where to sit in order to maintain social distancing. Students will be required to wash their hands before and after lunch.

Hot lunches will not be cooked in the school kitchen. Instead, individually-packaged lunch items will be available to purchase 3 days per week (Monday, Tuesday, Thursday) from local restaurants (i.e. Subway, Finazzos, Chick-fil-A, etc.).

Middle school students will remain in one classroom for a majority of the day while upper school students transition as normal.

Lockers have been spaced apart by grade level instead of all together by homeroom so that a class is spread out when visiting their lockers.

Yes. All specials, except library, will take place in their respective specials classrooms with the specials teacher. Mrs. Alfonso, lower school librarian, will visit each classroom, and library will take place directly in the grade-level classroom. Students will participate in all specials, with the exception of PE, in a socially distant manner. All equipment and supplies will be cleaned regularly.

Fine arts is an important aspect of an LCCS student’s education. Because our music rooms are so spacious, we feel confident that we can physically distance the students so that they are still able to safely participate in band and chorus.

The spiritual development of our students is a key component of a LCCS education. We will continue to hold weekly chapel where students will be socially distanced.

Yes. At this time, the PIAA (Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association) has given us permission to proceed with fall athletics. Unfortunately, fans may not attend athletic contests until further notice. The LCCS Athletic Department plans to provide the most safe and healthy environment possible for our student athletes and coaches. Please view the Athletics Safe Return to Play Plan for more details.

At this time, all field trips and retreats (except athletic retreats) have been postponed. There will be no field trips or retreats for the first marking period. Middle & upper school class trips have been rescheduled to March 10-12. The senior trip to Peru has moved to March 6-15.

Yes! What a blessing to have our beautiful, new playground finalized for this fall! By utilizing both the old and new playgrounds, all students will be able to get outside to enjoy recess in a safe, responsible manner.

We do plan to continue with some extracurricular activities and events in a safe and responsible manner. Communication regarding how we plan to facilitate each specific activity/event will be sent in advance.

The social-emotional wellbeing of our students is very important. IU-13 counselors are available on campus every day.  LCCS faculty and administration are available and willing to walk beside a student who is struggling, to remind them of God’s truth and how it impacts every aspect of their life. Counselors, teachers, and administrators will work together to provide support as our students navigate the school year ahead.

We greatly value all of our  volunteers and look forward to when you are able to be back with us. Unfortunately, for the first quarter, we cannot have volunteers in the classroom.

However, there are definitely other areas of need that volunteers will be essential to the success of the beginning of the school year (for example lunch coordination and library). Class ambassadors will likely have modified responsibilities for the first quarter, but your teachers will rely on your support.

All visitors will be temperature checked upon entering the building and will be required to wear a mask or face shield.