Return to In-Person Learning: Jan. 25
Dear St. Michael’s Families,
We look forward to having your children back on campus as scheduled on Monday, January 25. As we plan our return to in-person learning, we want to highlight a few areas that are important for all of us to keep in mind.
Health
· The increase in new COVID-19 cases and mandated quarantines that followed winter break has tapered off. Thank you for your part in supporting our community’s health and well-being. We continue daily monitoring of St. Michael’s and regional data.
· The success of our fall semester and lack of transmission on campus gives us confidence in reopening. We remain firm in our protocols and commitment to the health and safety of our faculty, staff, and students.
· As a community, we can't let our guard down. Please continue to be vigilant about hand-washing, mask usage, and limiting travel and social gatherings, as these mitigations are essential to our in-person return and ability to stay open. Should our COVID Dashboard see big spikes in cases again, we may need to make the difficult decision again to pivot to remote learning until the caseload stabilizes to protect the health and safety of our full community.
COVID-19 Vaccine
Virginia/metro RVA has entered into Phase 1B of vaccine inoculation which includes educators and child-care providers and as such, St. Michael’s employees are considered a priority group to receive the vaccine.
Yesterday, January 18, our faculty and staff received registration links from the VDH to schedule dates and times for interested personnel to receive the vaccine. We are hopeful that this is just the beginning of a widespread vaccination program that will lead to a return to our pre-COVID programming.
COVID Exposure Awareness
A reminder that the CDC updated the definition of exposure to being within 6 feet for at least 15 cumulative minutes in a 24-hour period.
· Given the constraints of contact tracing, if your child participates in an activity at which our St. Michael’s protocols (masks, clean hands, and maintaining 6 feet between) may not have been followed, your child will likely be deemed an exposure and thus need to quarantine IF someone in the group is COVID positive. Note that this applies whether the activity is organized (group ski trips or sports) or informal (sleepovers and playdates), and that it includes all types of activities including social, athletics, arts, enrichment, and more.
· Though other organizations may not require the same level of COVID-19 safety protocols as St. Michael’s, we ask you to please follow our St M standards as much as possible for risk mitigation.
· Thank you for promptly reporting, via our COVID Reporting Form, if ANY members of your household are exposed to COVID-19 or are experiencing COVID-like symptoms. Any student or faculty member in a household with an exposure should stay home and not come to campus until speaking with Nurse Maben.
Logistics
· Please complete St M’s Health Screening form on a daily basis before coming to campus. We will continue random checks of temperatures at Cone 3 in the carpool lines.
· With our return to campus, Morning Gym and after-school Extended Day are scheduled to resume along with in-person classes on Monday, January 25.
· Please send your children to school with appropriate cold-weather outerwear, as we will continue to maximize our campus for outdoor learning, recess, and more.
Thank you for your continued partnership, timely reporting, regard for protocols, and mutual support. We look forward to seeing our Dragons on campus next week. As always, please let me know if I can be of any assistance.
Sincerely,
Bob Gregg, Head of School