The latest plans & policies for the 2021-22 school year
As classrooms and community centers across Philadelphia reopen for the 2021-22 school year, ASAP is eager to work with school and community leaders to provide young people in Philadelphia with opportunities to resume the things they love to do after school and reconnect with their peers. To account for the evolving nature of the pandemic and the unique circumstances of our many partners, ASAP has envisioned a hybrid model for the 2021-22 school year that will allow the organization to pivot between in-person and virtual programming as needed. In the meantime, we ask our partners to take a few moments to review our current plans & policies for the year so that you may begin to plan accordingly.
In-person vs. virtual clubs:
ASAP will follow its partner sites’ policies to determine whether after school clubs will meet virtually or in-person. This means that ASAP will support both in-person and virtual clubs in FY22. As the year goes on, some programs may begin meeting in-person but shift to virtual meetings during the school year. ASAP will make every effort to flexibly support these sites and share best practices for keeping youth engaged in online programming.
Events & Competitions:
Over the last 6 months, our community of partners has shared a lot of enthusiasm for resuming in-person events and competitions safely and responsibly. For the 2021-22 year ASAP will make every effort to host modified in-person events, as long as public health guidance suggests these events do not put students, staff, and club leader partners in danger. To allow for social distancing and contact tracing when needed, these events will be limited to no more than 75 youth participants.
Public health guidance related to events:
Please note, if either the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#county-view) or the City of Philadelphia Department of Public Health (https://www.phila.gov/programs/coronavirus-disease-2019-covid-19/updates/the-latest-news/) identifies Philadelphia as an area with high transmission of COVID-19, ASAP will not hold in-person events but will shift its citywide events to an online format. ASAP will make this determination two weeks prior to a scheduled event, but we ask partners and families to understand if last-minute cancellations are necessary to keep everyone safe.
To meet the needs of our students during times of high community transmission, ASAP may, at its discretion, organize small matches or workshops between at most two clubs or within one club. All participants will still be asked to comply with the requirements listed elsewhere in this policy (universal masking, pre-registration, no visitors). Please note that ASAP’s staff capacity to organize these types of matches or workshops is extremely limited, but we are doing our best to equitably support our students and clubs across the city.
Event requirements for participants:
All staff, consultants, program partners, club leaders, and participating youth at ASAP events are required to wear a face mask at all times unless eating or drinking in a designated area. Masks are required of all attendees, regardless of vaccination status.
ASAP asks that any students, staff, consultants, club leaders, or partners refrain from attending an ASAP event if they:
- Have been exposed to someone with COVID-19 in the last seven (7) days, OR;
- Have experienced COVID-19 symptoms (fever or chills, cough, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, fatigue, muscle or body aches, headache, new loss of taste or smell, sore throat, congestion or runny nose, nausea or vomiting, diarrhea) in the past 24 hours, OR;
- Have tested positive for COVID-19 in the past seven (7) days, OR;
- Are awaiting the results of a COVID-19 test and are experiencing symptoms
We ask all our ASAP community members – students, partners, club leaders, consultants, and staff – to abide by these rules in order to protect each other. Repeated violations of these policies will result in community members being asked to leave, and repeat offenders may be barred from participation in future ASAP events.
Registration for Events:
Youth participants will only be allowed to attend ASAP events if they have pre-registered and have submitted a Consent & Enrollment Form signed by a parent or guardian. This form includes family contact information and demographic information that will be used for contact tracing purposes by ASAP and the City of Philadelphia’s Public Health Department in the event of a COVID-19 exposure at an ASAP event.
ASAP will not allow visitors to attend our events and competitions until further notice. We know that watching your child compete or perform has traditionally been a highlight of ASAP’s programming, but in order to limit potential COVID-19 exposures, we are limiting our events to only students and club leaders who have pre-registered for an event.
Contact tracing:
In the event that we learn of a COVID-19 exposure at an ASAP event, ASAP will notify the City of Philadelphia Department of Public Health and work with their staff to notify close contacts of the exposure. In the interest of transparency, we will also notify all club leaders and partners and post relevant information on ASAP’s social media pages, without disclosing the identity of any impacted individuals.
We appreciate everyone’s flexibility, patience, and cooperation as we strive to return to in-person programming while keeping ASAP’s community of students, families, partners, and staff safe during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. If you have any questions or concerns about ASAP’s COVID-19 policies, please email us at info@phillyasap.org or call us at 215-545-2727.
Thank you!
Last modified 9/13/2021
