Lower School

August 13, 2020

All MPA families should have received an email from Safetyapp@auxs.org with information about how to install the Safety App Powered by AUXS. This will enable MPA to effectively monitor and track screening as a preventative measure and will have the ease families need for this step to be quick and easy.

Click here to learn more about this app and how it will help keep our community healthy and safe.

If you were able to download it but are having difficulties submitting your screening, please try the following:

• When you’re typing in your student’s name in the first box, try waiting for just a moment after you’ve typed in their first and last name for a drop-down auto-fill to appear. Then click on their name for it to autofill to your child’s information that is connected to your account.
• Try completely closing out the app and logging back in.
• Ensure you’re filling in the temperature reading, even if it’s within the recommended under 100 degrees range.
• Ensure you’re using the AM or PM app at the appropriate times. Also, if you’ve already completed that form for the day, it will not let you fill it in again.
• These screenings should be done every morning before arriving at school and every evening. To aid in establishing this routine, we ask families to begin screening students now, prior to the start of school to identify any possible exposures or symptoms.

We have received some questions about the app’s privacy policy. The AUXS Safety App uses Google Cloud, which regularly undergoes independent verification of security, privacy, and compliance controls, achieving certifications, attestations of compliance, or audit reports against standards around the world. Google Cloud’s industry-leading security, third-party audits and certifications, documentation, and contract commitments supports our compliance. The following resources are available upon request: ISO/IEC certificates, SOC 1/2/3 reports, PCI DSS, CSA STAR and other assessments. The AUXS Safety App does not sell or procure MPA’s data. They do not analyze it or even look at MPA’s data unless the MPA administrator has an issue in the back-end. They have an extremely small team who works with our administrator to ensure that each organization is self sufficient.

If you did not receive the email with information about how to download it from Safetyapp@auxs.org or are having any difficulties with downloading and signing in, please contact Jennifer Rogers-Petitt, director of development and community engagement, at jrogers@moundsparkacademy.org.

For more detailed information about the arrival and dismissal process, click here. 

If you have questions about this screening process, or if you need to report possible symptoms or exposure throughout the school year, please email covid19tracing@moundsparkacademy.org.

August 13, 2020

The MPA COVID-19 planning and implementation process is focused on risk-reduction with a multi-layered approach to reducing the risk of transmission when students and staff return to campus. Our planning process is grounded in a variety of quantitative and qualitative considerations as we consider moving our return to school dial. The quantitative metrics have been vetted by our MPA Community Advisory Group and outside professionals that have developed COVID-19 transmission and testing data in order to understand the local conditions and community spread.

These metrics include local data points on a variety of factors such as the case and new infection rate, testing rate, travel restrictions, and the reproduction number, or how many new cases are spreading for each infected individual. These metrics have thresholds that help us to think through our dial stops. However, this data alone does not provide the complete picture for our planning or the adjustments we anticipate making throughout the school. Additional qualitative or social factors we are monitoring and weighing include: the current infection or spread within our own MPA community, staff and student overall attendance, travel restrictions, our peer school decisions, recommendations from the state and federal officials, and of course, as we experienced this past spring, the Governor’s emergency orders for staying at home and business closures. These factors work in conjunction with our weekly metric monitoring to provide the complete picture for reopening campus and which mode of learning we are in at any given time. Read More

August 13, 2020

MPA recognizes every community member holds a dual wish of continuing the high-quality educational opportunities families have come to know and expect, while also maintaining health, safety, and wellness for themselves and others. Our symptom and case response protocols are designed with these shared values and goals at the center of our approach. Some families have asked specific questions about what will happen if someone develops symptoms, tests positive, or is potentially exposed on campus. Like so many parts of this pandemic, there is not a one-size-fits all solution for each case. Through our team of medical advisors and the MPA Community Advisory Group, we have developed a detailed and multi-pronged approach to symptom response, contact tracing, and confirmed cases. We will deploy a swift, personal, and private response that is taken through our 49-point COVID-19 response flow chart, which helps our contact tracing and response team to effectively manage each step along the way. Our team will also partner and work hand-in-hand with the Minnesota Department of Health and other local officials should the need arise.

If a student is on campus and begins to experience COVID-19 symptoms they will be treated with compassion, empathy, and the care that every student has come to know at MPA. Students experiencing symptoms in the middle of the school day will be personally accompanied into our waiting room isolation spaces on campus. This trained staff member or school administrator will remain with the student throughout the symptom response process. The goal of this response is to minimize contacts between the individual experiencing the symptoms, while exhibiting compassion and maintaining a calm and supportive environment. We do not want students to feel any stigma or worry about reporting when they are feeling unwell or experiencing COVID-identified symptoms. Read More