Dear LALC Parents, 

We are sending you this memorandum to inform you about the details of the enrollment for SY 2020 – 2021 and the impact of COVID19 on our academic pursuits in LALC. 

Reservation and Enrollment

Prior to the quarantines issued by the Philippine government to curtail the spread of COVID19, we were accepting reservations for SY 2020-2021. We would like to assure all parents that the reservations that you made for your children are all still valid at the LALC Centers that you reserved slots in. Futhermore, we are extending the benefit of no tuition fee increases for all reservations for SY 2020 – 2021 until June 15, 2020.

Enrollment for SY 2020 – 2021 will be open on May 4, 2020. We are aware that there is currently no guidelines set for the opening of classes for the school year, and as such, pending an announcement, we will have no deadlines for payments of fees. 

We are, however, hopeful that we can commence with our school year by July 1, 2020. We are preparing for Blended Learning program that will accommodate modalities of instruction to protect our learners. Schools offering online learning must be granted a permit by the Department of Education to do so, and we have already passed our request to be granted this permission.

We are also waiving all surcharges for tuition fee payments that were due during the period covered by the ECQ.

Existing Health and Safety Protocols

We had instituted stricter health and safety protocols earlier this year when COVID was discovered. We will continue with these protocols this school year. These protocols include the following:

1. Regular and frequent hand washing for our learners – We have the pupils and teachers wash their hands upon arrival in school, before they enter their classrooms, before they have their snacks, after they have their snacks, and before they are dismissed for the day. 
2. Hand sanitizing stations – We have dispensers of hand sanitizers available in our reception area of our parents and guests to use prior to entering the school.
3. Temperature checks before entry – All persons that enter LALC are scanned with an infrared thermometer. People who have a temperature in excess of 37.0 °C are not allowed entry into the school.
4. Regular and frequent sanitation of toys and premises with UV treatment – Aside from our daily schedule of cleaning of the toys and manipulative used by our learners in both their classrooms and the LALC common areas, we sterilize the school with ultraviolet light treatments twice a week.

Additional Health and Safety Protocols

We are currently also planning to implement the following additional health and safety protocols for our schools once the school year starts:

1. Footwear safety – We will install a shoe-bath, if possible, at the entry points into the school perimeter. We are also prohibiting the use of shoes inside the LALC Campus. Pupils and teachers will be asked to provide their own slippers or sandals for use inside the school. Parents and guests who enter the school will be either asked to remove their shoes and deposit them in the shoe caddy or to use shoe coverings.
2. PPE use – We will require the use of personal protective equipment for all LALC community members while they are inside the LALC campus. Face masks will be mandatory for everyone until advised otherwise by the pertinent authorities. We will strictly implement the No Face Mask – No Entry rule. One of our LALC parents offered to help source child-sized face shields for our learners, and these can be purchased through the school once classes begin.
3. COVID Testing – As soon as the supply of test kits become readily available, and upon the direction of the Department of Health, we shall have our teachers and employees take a COVID anti-body test to determine if they have been exposed to the virus.
4. Social distancing – We will be implementing social distancing measures in school until further notice. These include limiting the number of pupils who will attend classes. We will limit face-to-face class sizes to a maximum of six (6) pupils per class. We are currently studying the best options to implement this, and we will expound on these options in the Blended Learning section of this memorandum. 

Furthermore, much as we are aware that physical contact and displays of affection are de rigueur in preschools, hugs between and among pupils and teachers are prohibited. We will also be dispensing with hand shakes and hand stamping social distancing measures can be eased. 

All school-based celebrations and events will also be cancelled or otherwise modified. This includes birthday parties, culminating activities for weekly themes, holiday celebrations and all out-of-campus activities. 

We would appreciate any further suggestions you may have regarding additional protocols. 

Blended Learning

We have established Blended Learning as a policy to be able to continue to provide and deliver quality preschool education for all our learners. Blended Learning is a proactive response to the “new normal” that will be created in order to contain the spread of COVID19 and other potential pathogens.

In the LALC – Blended Learning platform, our learners will be given direct and guided instruction by our LALC teachers using mobile learning devices (MLDs) simultaneously and in consonance with ongoing LALC classes in their respective learning centers.  Blended learning is NOT homeschooling. It is distance learning. The curricula, instruction, direction, activities  and assessment will all still be supplied, administered and conducted by the LALC.

In order to accomplish this, the LALC will be using three digital platforms: a messaging service, a classroom management service, and a video conferencing service. These platforms will be used according to their specific functions in order to accomplish our learning objectives. We will provide a special online training for ALL LALC parents prior to the start of the school year.

The two modalities of learning that we will offer for Blended Learning are 100% online learning and scheduled Blended Learning.

For pupils who will choose to have 100% online learning, they will participate in their enrolled classes at the designated schedule. They will be given the option to pick-up their learning materials and worksheets from the school or to have these delivered to their homes.

In the scheduled Blended Learning modality, our learners will be scheduled to go to school on specific days. On the days that they cannot go to school, they are expected to participate in online classes that will be held at the same time as their regular classes.

We are currently exploring two options for scheduled Blended Learning:

1. Pupils will go to school twice a week – Regardless of the class size, half of the enrolled learners will be scheduled to go to school on Mondays and Tuesdays, and the other half will go on Thursdays and Fridays. Wednesdays will be designated clean-up days, to insure that there will be no cross-infection of pupils between batches.
2. Pupils will go to school on alternate weeks – Regardless of the class size, half of the enrolled learners will be scheduled to go to school on alternate weeks.

Both scenarios are possible and feasible as these limit the exposure of our learners to potential illness. Both also offer different benefits: twice-a-week sessions give a sense of routine and schedule to the child, while alternating week schedules will allow the learner to have more face-to-face interaction with their teacher. We will be doing a survey on your preferred modality as we approach the start of our classes.

Pupil status

All pupils enrolled in respective LALC branches are eligible for participation in LALC’s Blended Learning modalities. Pupils who choose the scheduled Blended Learning option are still assessed the regular tuition fee rate, as the presumption is that we will be able to resume full operations of face-to-face sessions by the end of the school year.

Pupils who will opt for the 100% online learning option will be given a different tuition fee rate that will be standard across ALL LALC branches. Please inform your child’s teacher if you would prefer this option and they will provide the rates to you.

Thank you very much dear parents. We trust in your continued support for our school, and we hope to be able to see you all very soon! 

Teacher Noni Odulio