Caring for the Whole Child

Health & Safety

Rowland Hall is committed to providing a safe, healthy learning environment for all students and adults. Our approach to creating and sustaining a safe school focuses on three main areas: student well-being, campus security, and training and resources.

Student Well-Being

Research indicates that the most important thing schools can do to increase the safety of their community is focus on student wellness and social-emotional learning (SEL). A robust ethical education program, including a developmentally appropriate SEL curriculum, helps students at Rowland Hall learn how to take care of themselves and others.

Our Upper School partnered with Challenge Success in 2017–2018 to assess and improve the well-being and engagement of our students. Some changes made as a result include occasional late starts for grades six through twelve and increased teacher-student consultation time.

A healthy school community makes students feel known and valued, and Rowland Hall is proud of its reputation for cultivating close student-teacher relationships. We encourage all students to approach a trusted adult at school if they need help or have concerns about another member of the community. We emphasize offering assistance to those in need and learning how to grow and learn from our mistakes. Each division has a student support team dedicated to identifying and supporting any individuals who may be experiencing challenges in their academic or personal lives.

Middle and upper schoolers are also encouraged to download the SafeUT smartphone app, which allows users to submit anonymous tips and seek free and confidential crisis services.

Campus Security

We have made significant investments in the security and communication systems at the McCarthey Campus and Lincoln Street Campus.

We have automatic locking doors and a paging system that allows us to quickly secure our buildings in the event of an emergency.
We have a communication system that allows us to send alerts to faculty, staff, and Upper School students via text message, email, and overhead paging.
We have security cameras throughout both campuses.
All visitors to campus must sign in and wear either a visitor badge or a parent/caregiver name tag.

Training & Resources

Training members of our community on best practices in campus safety and emergency preparedness is a core part of our commitment to creating a safe school. We regularly conduct emergency drills in all divisions—including fire, earthquake, and lockdown drills—and local law enforcement has observed our drills and complimented us on our practices.

School administrators attend conferences and workshops dedicated to school safety, such as the Utah Schools Safety Summit in November 2018, and we have an active safety committee that reviews procedures and protocols on each campus. Additionally, all teachers are required to undergo CPR and first aid training.

Finally, we performed a comprehensive campus safety review in 2017–2018 and will continue to seek expert advice from local and national safety consultants as needed.

Community Health & Illness Policy

To mitigate the spread of illness, Rowland Hall will continue with air purification in our buildings and provide masks to students, employees, and visitors who wish to mask.

If your student has a respiratory illness, including COVID-19, flu, and RSV:

Keep them home until they have been fever-free AND their symptoms have been improving for at least 24 hours.
Talk to your student about taking additional steps to prevent the spread of illness, such as masking, physical distancing, and increased hygiene for the 5 days after they return to school.

Please be respectful of all students and staff and keep your student home if they exhibit any of the below symptoms. Any student exhibiting these symptoms at school will be removed from the classroom and sent home immediately.

Fever: Students will be sent home for a temperature of 101˚ F or higher. Students must be fever-free for a 24-hour period before returning to school, without the use of fever-reducing medications. Controlling a fever with medication and then coming to school is not permitted, as they may still be contagious.

Vomiting: If a student has more than one episode of vomiting within a two-hour period, they will be sent home. Students may not return to campus for 24 hours after the last episode of vomiting.

Diarrhea: If a student has more than one loose stool in a 60-minute period, they will be sent home. Students may not return to campus for 24 hours after the last episode of diarrhea.
Conjunctivitis/pink eye: Students with colored and/or goopy discharge will be sent home and may not return to campus until the drainage clears up or the student has been on antibiotics for a 24-hour period.

Bacterial Infections: Students may not return to campus until they have received antibiotic treatment for 24 hours.

For more information, see the health section of the Student-Parent Handbook.

The Utah Department of Health and Human Services currently provides COVID-19 rapid antigen tests free of cost for K–12 schools. These home tests can be picked up from each division's front office as needed.