Dear Parents and Guardians,

Making decisions throughout this pandemic about whether or not to have students and teachers on campus has not been easy. There are many factors which must be taken into account including the effectiveness of our internal mitigation efforts, current infections within the WT community, external metrics of community spread, and the guidance issued by the CDC, Pennsylvania, and Allegheny County. Taken together, these often do not paint a clear picture of the path ahead.

In consultation with our Medical Review Board, and given our successes of on-campus instruction earlier this year with our mitigation efforts, and recent medical data which indicates that schools continue to be safe spaces and not the centers of infection spread we once feared, we will resume on-campus instruction using our Divisional Models, as planned, beginning Monday, January 11, 2021. If you are changing your child's instructional mode (remote/on-campus) from the last time we were all on campus, please confirm that change with the appropriate Division Director. For this trimester, should community conditions change such that you are comfortable having your remote student return to campus, they may do so on Monday, February 1, 2021.

Here are some important reminders as we reconvene on campus next week.

Health Screenings

It is critical that you complete the Ruvna health screenings each day and for each of your children in advance of arriving on campus. This important step allows us to prevent a child or employee from coming to campus due to illness or exposure to COVID-19.

For our remote learners (whether all-remote, or in the hybrid model), it is important that the screening is completed so that we have a full understanding of the health of our community and can monitor any potential illness or exposures. If you are not already completing the screenings this week, please begin tomorrow.

Most importantly, please remember that students who do not feel well or who show symptoms of any illness should not come to school.

Mitigation Efforts

There is no substitute for the most basic of mitigation efforts in which we all play a vital role. In addition to completing the daily health screenings, we must all commit to:

Proper mask wearing that covers both the nose and the mouth
Regular/frequent hand washing/sanitizing
Covering the nose and mouth when sneezing or coughing
Physical distancing

Additionally, I remind you that part of our mitigation efforts include having open windows in our classrooms and offices even with the winter weather that is upon us. Additionally, students may need to eat their snacks and lunch outside as we know that enclosed spaces with masks off can be a cause of COVID-19 spread. It is imperative that students dress in layers and be prepared to be outside unless temperatures are dangerously low or there is heavy rain.

Travel

We have evolved our travel restrictions to mirror the CDC, Pennsylvania, and Allegheny County's guidance:

Travel that takes students or staff outside of Pennsylvania (domestic or international), requires that students and staff either MUST have a negative COVID-19 test (and send the results to the school nurse) within 72 hours prior to entering Pennsylvania or MUST quarantine for 10 days upon entry into Pennsylvania. If a traveler chooses to get tested upon entering Pennsylvania, or is waiting for test results, the traveler must quarantine for 10 days, or until receipt of a negative test result, whichever comes first, before returning to the WT campus. Students will be able and required to participate virtually while self-quarantining.

If you traveled over the Winter Break or intend to travel at any future time during the school year, it is important that this guidance be followed.

After-School Care

After-school programming for students in Pre-K–grade 5, and Supervised Study for students in grades 6–8 will also begin on Monday, January 11. Please look for a communication from Dionne Brelsford, Director of Programs, for more detailed information.

Shared Commitment

We all know the importance of having our students on campus, even during this challenging time. We must maintain a shared commitment to following our protocols to make sure we are able to remain on campus through the end of the year. It is also important that our off-campus behaviors not impact our ability to be on campus. When there is a positive exposure on campus, we will notify any affected individuals to quarantine and switch to virtual instruction for smaller groups as we did earlier in the fall.

If you have not reviewed our Pandemic Plan recently, please take some time to review it prior to Monday to refresh yourself on drop-off and pick-up procedures.

We look forward to welcoming our students back to campus very soon.

Be well,

Scott