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Important COVID-19 Update
Dear St. Michael’s Families,
As we continue to monitor the pandemic spread of the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19), our first priority remains the health, safety, and security of our students, faculty, staff, and community. We are grateful for your patience, support, and understanding as we navigate these stressful, uncharted waters.
After many discussions amongst our school leadership team, we have made the decision to extend Spring Break and CANCEL classes and all after-school activities for the week of March 16-20. In a change from what was previously communicated, our Extended Day program will also be CLOSED the entire week of March 16. Our faculty and staff will use the week to proactively prepare for age-appropriate remote learning --both online and offline -- in the event that we need to close the campus for an extended period of time. With increasing information surrounding best practices for virus containment and social distancing, we also feel it is in the best interest of our students and faculty to limit group exposure at this time, especially as many of our families traveled over the break. Thankfully, the lack of any snow this winter means that we can allocate the snow days built into our school calendar to this endeavor without sacrificing overall instructional time. As students were instructed to bring home all school books and items before the break, please do not come to campus for any school materials as doors will be closed next week. Late next week, teachers also will communicate updated information about any homework/projects that were assigned prior to the break.
At this time, St. Michael’s does not have any reports of active exposure of COVID-19. In the days or weeks ahead, if you or any of your family members believe you have been exposed to or diagnosed with COVID-19, we ask that you please contact Jessica Stargell (Middle School) or Merrill Geier (Lower School) for a confidential discussion so we can support your student and assist with homework extensions.
Our goal is to communicate any decisions and updates moving forward in a timely manner. We will also post all of our COVID-19 information, future updates, and any other virus-related resources that might be helpful to you and your children in a special section at the top of our This Week at St. Michael’s webpage. We encourage you to bookmark this page which can be accessed from the front page of our website. We also ask you to start thinking through a plan for your family in the event that extended campus closures are needed. Right now, the plan is to reopen School on Monday, March 23 -- either in-person or via remote learning.
This decision was not made lightly; we know that closing School will be disruptive for all of our families, especially for those families of our younger Dragons. The rapidly developing situation with this pandemic will likely require all of us to be agile, expecting changes and adjustments to our daily routines. That said, I am completely confident in our wonderful community’s ability to adapt and thrive during these challenging times. Thank you for your continued partnership.
Sincerely,
Bob Gregg, Head of School
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