Health and Safety

We are licensed by the Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care (EEC) to operate our preschool program. EEC has developed protocols and requirements to ensure the health and safety of children, staff, and families in early childhood programs. Our top priority is the health, safety and wellness of our students, our families, and our staff. 

We are lucky in that we have a large amount of space available for our use. We have three classrooms that all contain large working windows which have always given us great light and also allow for fresh air exchange into the rooms. We also have use of the Social Hall of First Parish Watertown which is a large, mostly empty room that is used in a variety of ways. Additionally, Russell has multiple high quality air filters in the classrooms, snack room, and Social Hall spaces

Russell’s policy around masking is currently Mask Optional, Family Choice. Adults and Children may be asked to wear a mask indoors if they’re returning to school after testing positive with COVID and are not yet able to produce a negative test.

We practice rigorous cleaning protocols including: 

• Regular and thorough hand washing of all participants in the program -- children and adults 

• Regular cleaning of all toys, materials, and all program surfaces, plus weekly deep cleaning of the entire program space by professional cleaners

These health and safety procedures will be updated as needed and as required by EEC. Families will be notified as soon as possible of any changes.