Dear Parents and Guardians,
I hope you have found these first weeks of summer to be providing you with some much deserved downtime from the relentless pace we were on in the final months of the school year. The decreased screen time and increased time to connect with friends and family, perhaps in real time and space, is a welcome shift in the midst of this challenging time.
Since our teachers and students have been away, there has been a great deal of work going on behind the scenes to prepare for the new school year. Our planning has been guided by our commitment to being back together as a community while keeping students, faculty, and staff safe, and optimizing our learning environment. A tall order to be sure.
I am sharing a great deal of information here to update you on our planning as of today. I ask that you read through it with the mindset that it will likely evolve between now and August. Indeed, even as I was finalizing this communication, Allegheny County experienced its record high in new cases and is making adjustments to how we are living in the Green Phase.
Personnel Announcement
Before jumping into our fall plans, I must first share the sad news that Diane Nichols, our Director of Equity and Inclusion, recently informed me that she has accepted a position at The Bryn Mawr School in Baltimore beginning in mid-August. Diane has contributed a great deal to the important work of Equity and Inclusion at WT. She laid the groundwork for us to be able to do the work we are charged to do.
While we begin a search for our next Director of Equity and Inclusion, we have decided to hire a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) consultant to provide outside, objective, professional perspectives on our work. As we speak with potential partners, we are discussing the need for equity and inclusion audits on our curriculum, student and parent handbooks, and our professional development programs. Additionally, the partner will help facilitate conversations with our alumnae/i community which is in need of reconciliation and healing.
Adam Nye, Assistant Head for Education and Strategy, and Desiree Jennings, our newly appointed Director of Academics, will manage this process. Additionally, Adam and Desiree will work closely with our DEI Liaisons to continue the important work that they do within each division.
While she will be missed, we wish Diane well in this next chapter.
Pandemic Team
WT's Pandemic Team is charged with the overall health and safety planning required to re-open school this fall. This team consists of our three medical professionals (WT Nurse Carlynn Graves, Physical Education and Health Teacher Steve Cooper, and Director of College Counseling David Weisbord), Assistant Head for Operations John Charney, and me. Guided by state and federal guidelines, we are preparing for the many different demands needed to re-open safely. Once our plan is complete, it will be available on our website. Please know that it will continue to evolve throughout the summer and likely into the school year.
Health and Safety
While more will be included in the Pandemic Plan, I want to highlight a number of items that may be of particular interest.
- Health Screenings: We will be asking all employees and families to complete an at-home health assessment prior to coming to school. Additionally, a screening will also be done on campus as individuals arrive. All arrivals will be directed to the gymnasium entrances. Employees will use one designated entrance and students a different one. There will be multiple stations set-up daily, and everyone will need to answer a few simple questions and then have their temperature taken prior to fully entering the building. Anyone with a temperature above 99.5 will not be allowed to remain on campus. Directions for drop-off and pick-up will be provided as we get closer to the start of school.
- Health Suite: There will be quite a few office moves taking place this summer so that we can relocate the Health Suite to the current Business Office. With the interior offices and self-contained restroom in that space, it is the ideal location to be able to isolate any individual, adult or student, who develops symptoms over the course of the day. Additionally, it is a short walk to the Bayard Street side exit for anyone needing to leave.
- Personal Protective Equipment (PPE): All adults on campus will be required to wear face masks, as will students in grades 2 through 12. We will need to be the most flexible with this requirement with our youngest children and will continue to work through those challenges as they arise. We are asking for families to supply their own masks but will, of course, have extras on hand for any students that forget them. Additionally, each classroom and office will be supplied with hand sanitizer, disinfectant wipes, and gloves.
- Personal Hygiene: I cannot stress enough the importance of good personal hygiene when it comes to limiting the spread of any illness. Washing hands frequently, covering the nose and mouth when coughing or sneezing, and not touching the eyes, nose, mouth, or face, all go a long way in protecting us from illness.
- Personal Illness: Never has there been a more important moment for students to remain home when they are ill. While we have always asked for you to keep your children home until they have been fever-free for 24 hours without medication, we must insist that this become common practice.
Building Cleaning
We have been working with our custodial services provider to layout our expectations for building cleaning. We agreed to several changes to current practices to meet the demands of limiting exposure to illness. In order to accomplish this, we will be increasing the number of daytime and evening custodial staff.
- Classroom Cleaning: Classrooms will receive deep cleaning every evening. Additionally, periodically throughout the day, as classrooms are not occupied, cleaning staff will enter the room to provide interim cleaning.
- Office Cleaning: Offices will be given a deep cleaning every night and during the day as needed.
- Restrooms: Restrooms will be cleaned hourly throughout the day.
- Trash Cans: With the plan for students to eat in classroom spaces and not in the Dining Hall, additional large trash cans will be available throughout the buildings to accommodate meal waste. These will be removed at the end of the lunch periods.
- Supplies: As noted above, each classroom and office will be provided with disinfectant wipes to be used as needed/desired.
Schedule Models
Based on our research and conversations with our employee task force, we have been working hard at creating the schedule model for next year. As I explained to you earlier, there are three likely scenarios. The first is that we are simply back to business as usual. This is highly unlikely given the current rise in COVID-19 cases and still no vaccine in general use. The second scenario has us completely in virtual mode. I think this is also unlikely given the recent guidance from the Pennsylvania Department of Education. In their plans, on-campus instruction can take place in both the Yellow Phase and the Green Phase as long as we can follow Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines.
The most likely scenario is a hybrid model. Here is a short summary of what the schedules will look like by division as of today.
Lower School:
Utilizing assistant teachers and specialists, we will add one section of each grade level from Pre-K through grade 5 to be able to accommodate physical distancing needs. This model allows us to add seven additional sections while being mindful of affordability. This will allow us to bring class sizes down to levels within CDC guidelines and allow every Lower School student to be on campus every day. We know, especially in our Lower School, how important the social-emotional piece is in child development, and that we need these students on campus every day. We also know that young children need more supervision to engage in online learning and this can be difficult for parents balancing other priorities. Other changes will need to be made in how we deliver world language, art, science, etc., and we are developing those details now. This will also include a number of classroom and office moves to accommodate the new sections.
Middle and Upper Schools:
We are simplifying our relatively complex Middle and Upper School schedules to make it easier for students to move among the various models of fully in school, fully virtual, and a hybrid of those. In short, to allow for appropriate physical distancing, 50% of the students will be on campus and we will rotate them in and out every other week. We will be installing video-conferencing equipment in every classroom so that when students are home, they can still connect into the classroom to continue instruction. We have had several teachers in to test the equipment and to give us feedback. Additionally, the equipment will be piloted in our summer programs.
Survey
This is all a work in progress and may change several times as we see the development of COVID-19 this summer. We do know that our goal is to limit the possibility of exposure but that we cannot completely eliminate it. Some of your children may have their own personal health concerns that could limit their ability to return physically to campus. Soon, we will be sending you a survey to provide us information about whether or not, given the health and safety precautions we are putting into place, your child will be able to be on campus this fall. We will need to know by mid-July so that we can make accommodations and/or alternate arrangements including providing a completely virtual experience for next year. Your response will be critical for our planning.
Athletics
Our Athletics Department has been drafting its back-to-play plan and will be releasing that very soon.
Final Thoughts...For Now…
Never in my wildest dreams could I have pictured this level of uncertainty and anxiety as we prepare for the start of another year. I wish I had an answer for every question or a perfect response for every concern. I don't. I am committed, though, to supporting our community to come back together once again, and to continue the transformational work we are doing that makes WT...well WT. I am grateful for your support, work, and commitment as we move forward together. Look for further updates throughout the summer.
Should you have any questions, do not hesitate to reach out.
Be well,
Scott