Dear Boarding Students,
We continue to hope you and your loved ones are safe and healthy. We miss you.
We know that many of you are anxious to be reunited with your belongings, and we have appreciated your patience and understanding over the past few weeks. We have been working on a moveout, packing, storing, and shipping plan, with the health and wellbeing of the entire school community as our top priority. MA Governor Baker has just extended our stay-at-home advisory until May 18, so we have all needed to exercise caution and patience.
We have borrowed ideas and best practices from our peer schools and neighboring universities. Because of the tremendous hard work and effort of our facilities team, we are able to offer THREE options for you and your family to consider (further details at the end of this email):
- MOVE OUT - Come to campus between May 19-June 5 during a scheduled window of time to pack and remove belongings with explicit expectations for social distancing and safety. If this option is chosen, your cluster dean will contact you early next week with information on signing up for an appointment to come to campus.
- PACK AND STORE - Andover facilities team will pack your items and store them in the Snyder Center, relocating them to your dormitory assignment for the 2020-2021 academic year. If this option is chosen, a release form will be sent to parents giving the facilities team permission to pack your items and must be completed by May 22.
- PACK AND SHIP - Andover facilities team will pack your items and then you will coordinate with Collegeboxes to have your items shipped. If this option is chosen, a release form will be sent to parents giving the facilities team permission to pack your items and must be completed by May 22.
To help us prepare, please let us know which option you and your family will pursue by replying to this survey by Friday, May 8 at 5 PM. Following your selection, we will send you the necessary forms that accompany your choice.
Again, thank you for your cooperation and partnership.
See below for more detailed information and please reach out to deanofstudents@andover.edu or your cluster dean if you have further questions.
Best,
JKE
A few more details:
MOVE OUT:
If you select this option, please understand that we will offer three-hour windows between May 19-June 5. We will manage and limit access to dormitories for everyone’s safety. We expect that anyone coming to campus will not be ill or experiencing any symptoms of being ill. Next week, your cluster dean will send a survey asking you to sign up for an appointment. You will be unable to enter a dormitory space without a scheduled appointment. You will be allowed to bring one person to help you pack and move, and you will both need to bring and wear gloves and masks. We will need you to bring your own packing supplies. We will ask you to return any Academy-owned items to available labeled bins, deposit unwanted items in recycling and trash receptacles and leave your dormitory space empty and in clean condition. We will expect you to honor social distancing practices, and we discourage any sort of congregating on campus.
PACK AND STORE or PACK AND SHIP:
We recognize that this unprecedented time will include personal challenges for students and families, particularly those from areas of the world hardest hit by COVID-19. We know that there are a number of circumstances that will make a visit to campus to retrieve personal belongings impossible for you and your family.
Our facilities team at PA has generously offered to pack, store and relocate items for our residential students at no additional cost to our families. We are so grateful for the hard work and efforts of these community members. Our teams will plan to pack items in June so that we can clean and prepare dormitories for the upcoming academic year during the months of July and August.
Our teams will handle your belongings with care and professionalism. If in the course of packing a student’s room they find something that could potentially violate our school rules, the student will be granted Sanctuary unless the item(s) found suggest a potential for harm to others such as distribution of drugs or a dangerous weapon. A student’s cluster dean will follow up with the student and family according to the Sanctuary policy as outlined in the Blue Book or to investigate the matter further in the event there is potential for harm to others.
PACK AND SHIP (continued) :
If you would like your items shipped, please sign up through Collegeboxes. From their website, choose Phillips Academy from the list of schools and choose either PA Shipping or Ship to School. PA Shipping will deliver the items to your home or other address. The Ship to School option provides the fall delivery of your belongings to your university or college. Because it is unclear whether schools will open in the fall, we recommend having your items shipped home or to another address. More information is available at Collegeboxes (866-269-4887) or by contacting deanofstudentsoffice@andover.edu.
Please Note: Collegeboxes is the only method for shipping your items and they can only ship boxes. If you would like your furniture stored please make those arrangements with Collegeboxes. Furniture left behind in student rooms will be donated or disposed of by the Academy.
