CHEC's Coronavirus Response

Like everyone, the volunteers who run CHEC have struggled to figure out how to proceed amid concerns surrounding COVID-19. At CHEC, our goal is to help home schoolers connect and this is more important than ever. At the same time, we face many of the same obstacles as businesses and schools-—we don’t want to get anyone sick and we need to comply with local regulations. Seeing as both best practice recommendations and regulations are moving targets, this is pretty challenging. We do have a plan, outlined below, but please understand that the plan can change at any time.

We currently offer a selection of online and outdoor classes. Our outdoor classes are small (typically 8 or fewer students) and have mostly activities that allow students to remain 6' apart. We do ask that students bring a mask that they can wear when activities bring them within 6' of each other. Currently, some instructors and some students wear masks at all times. Some students choose to never wear masks and will opt out of activities that require them. Most wear masks when close to others, but do not wear them when distanced.

• Classes will be held outdoors.
• In the event of bad weather, cancellation notice will be posted on the CHEC website. We’ll post cancellations prior to 10:00 am.
• Students will be asked to maintain a 6’ distance from others. Students are asked to bring a mask or a face guard. This does not need to be in use if you are distanced, but, per local regulations, if you can not maintain social distance, you should have on a mask or face guard.
• Instructors will be asked to design courses that maintain distance so that students will not need face coverings for the majority of the class. Students can expect to have home zones in their class (a blanket, chalk outline, hula hoop) that are distanced.
• Parents will be asked to stay on-site with children ages 8 and under. For parents with older children, students may be dropped off with appropriate paperwork and signing in and out. While we have asked instructors to be facilitate social distancing, their responsibility is to teach. If you have concerns about the ability of your student to remain distance, please stay on-site and assist as necessary.
• There will be a lunch break between 2nd and 3rd period. As we hope to facilitate social connections, we think this time is especially important for students and hope they will socialize and play.
• CHEC will have one site manager on-site. The site manager will be available to help direct families to classes, answer questions, and assist instructors and families as needed. Please introduce yourself and your children to both the site manager and your child(ren)’s instructor.
• We have a very limited number of outdoor classes available--it is hard to predict demand at this time. If the class you are interested in is full, please add to the waitlist. If there are enough interested students on the waitlist, we will open another section if possible.

• As always, it is important to keep a sick child home.
• If we learn of a confirmed case of COVID-19 in one of our students, we will cancel classes for the following week. We would request that anyone who has a confirmed case inform us as quickly as possible so that we can cancel. CHEC officers will not share the identity of the sick child with other CHEC families, but will ask permission of the family to share the identity with the class instructor so the instructor can let us know if any students in the class were in close contact with the sick child.

• We have changed our fall term to two short terms to limit financial liability for all involved.
• We have allocated extra make-up days to allow for illness and weather related cancellations (4 for fall, compared to the typical 1).
• We do have scholarship funds available. We know many families have been impacted financially by COVID and we want to help. Please do not hesitate to inquire about scholarship if finances are a concern for you.
• You may drop your class prior to Oct. 18th with no penalty. In recognition of the extenuating times, we are reducing the drop fee from $25 to $5 for drops made after Oct. 18th. If CHEC cancels classes prior to the first day of class, full refunds will be issued. If classes are cancelled after the first day of class, or if we are unable to offer the full 4 weeks of classes due to weather/illness, we will issue half refunds for the missed classes (where the remaining half goes to the teacher). We understand that no policy is perfect here and we want to be fair to teachers and families. Please keep in mind that everyone handling registrations and cancellations are volunteering their time—-please don’t put an undue burden on our volunteers.