Community Agreement

This updated Community Agreement represents best practices meant to ensure that we remain as safe and healthy as possible, and also ensures our strict compliance with state and local public health guidelines as required.

The previous school year brought many challenges that our Mid-Pen community weathered exceedingly well. We had no student cases of COVID-19 and no cases of on-campus transmission. While it may appear that things are “normal” again—and while the temptation to go about our business as usual is great—we’re still a long way from the end of the pandemic. As of this writing, the Delta variant is spreading among unvaccinated communities, and there have been some “breakthrough” cases caused by the variant amongst those who are vaccinated. Mid-Pen will continue to follow the most up-to-date guidance of our local health and safety agencies, which follows the latest medical and scientific research, and we will partner with students, families, and staffulty (staff and faculty) as we collectively strive to do what’s best for our entire community.

We expect that all parents/guardians, students, and staffulty of our community will read this document carefully. You will be asked to confirm your receipt and acceptance of this Community Agreement, and all of us here at Mid-Pen will be accountable for following the guidelines herein.

This document was last updated on August 12, 2021.

Mid-Pen Community Agreement During the COVID-19 Pandemic

COVID-19 Vaccine Verification

Mid-Pen expects that the majority of its students and, per state requirements, all staffulty to be vaccinated against COVID-19 by October 15, 2021. Because vaccination status impacts our protocols for masking, testing, contact tracing, quarantine, and isolation, the school must verify student and staffulty vaccination status.

All staffulty are required to provide verification of their vaccination status.

Parents/Guardians are asked to provide their child’s proof of vaccination. Students who do not share their vaccination status will be treated as unvaccinated and must follow all school protocols for unvaccinated individuals, which includes but is not limited how they participate in extracurricular activities and school events, their protocols for travel, testing/quarantine requirements, outdoor masking in certain situations, increased testing for participation in athletics, and masking protocols.

Masks

Per federal, state, and local requirements, students and staffulty will wear masks indoors, regardless of vaccination status. At this time Mid-Pen requires students wear masks outdoors regardless of vaccination status. Unvaccinated individuals should wear a mask in crowded outdoor settings or during activities that involve sustained close contact with other individuals.

Students who repeatedly do not wear their masks properly indoors or refuse to wear them while indoors will be excluded from participating in on-campus activities and will be sent home immediately.

Travel

Mid-Pen will follow CDC, county, and state guidelines with regards to travel and will ask families to do the following, depending on where the student is traveling and their current vaccination status. Please review Mid-Pen’s Travel Guidelines and pay close attention to our COVID-19 testing timelines and self-quarantine requirements as they are different for vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals.When traveling, please use common sense and current federal/state guidelines regarding physical distancing, mask-wearing, and frequent hand washing.

Testing

Students and staffulty are required to get tested to come to campus. Mid-Pen continues its partnership with Agile Force to offer weekly COVID-19 testing of our students, their families, and staffulty; we host community testing on campus every Wednesday. Parents, guardians, and immediate family members of Mid-Pen students and staffulty are also eligible for testing. Please follow the technician’s directions carefully when undergoing a COVID-19 test.

Carpooling

Please follow these guidelines when traveling to and from campus:

Students are allowed to carpool. If a student is carpooling with any persons outside their immediate household members, all riders are encouraged to wear masks. 
The school will have single points of entry and check-in for students. Please make sure to follow directions carefully for entering the main building. 
The school will offer shuttles to and from the Menlo Park Caltrain station. Students should continue to follow state and local ordinances regarding masks on public transit. While on our school shuttle, students will need to wear their masks regardless of vaccination status.

Consequences

We ask our community members to consider two of Mid-Pen’s values in particular: responsibility and respect.

Mid-Pen is a relatively small and very close-knit community; everyone needs to demonstrate responsibility for oneself and others in order to respect the needs of our entire community.

Failure to adhere to Mid-Pen’s Community Agreement will result in consequences, such as but not limited to the following:

The student may be required to stay home, at least until it is clear that they are healthy and not infected by COVID-19.
The Head of School or another Mid-Pen leader may engage the student and their family in a conversation about the choices the student has made, the extent to which these choices represent a pattern of misalignment with Mid-Pen values, and whether the school and the student can and should continue a relationship.

In Closing

Mid-Pen faculty and staff are excited to return to full, in-person learning. Our 2021-2022 Safe Return to School plan and Community Agreement represent careful thinking about how best to provide for the safety and health of our community to avoid disrupting the education of our students. Thank you for reviewing our COVID-19 Safety Plan and Community Agreement as a family. It is essential that everyone in our Mid-Pen community take our individual and collective responsibility to help keep us safe so that we can continue with in-person learning.