COVID-19 RESPONSE PLANS

4.3.20

Dear St. Andrew’s Families,

Thank you for all that you are doing to support your children and our school community. It is with a good deal of sadness that I share with you that the current trajectory looks likely to include a closure of the physical campus through the end of the fourth quarter. If the circumstances allow us to return to school prior to the last day of school, we will work to make that happen. However, we believe given the information we have that our planning should be focused on the most realistic path forward. We are in touch with the medical community and health officials in our local area. I want to urge each of our families to use caution and follow the precautions and guidance being shared from those individuals, as the presence of this virus is being felt with increasing frequency and urgency in our local area.

We do our best work with our students on campus each day, and it is hard to translate that to a remote learning environment. We miss them and we miss you. As we plan for the weeks ahead, we know there are many perspectives, questions, and considerations. We appreciate the positive feedback, and we are willing to listen to the places where you are having challenges and need more help as we try to support each of our students. Please follow this link to find a short message I want to share with you as we look at a more extended closure.

As shared in the video, we will need to work together to build a bridge from our current moment until the time we can come back to school. We will continue to be in touch, trying to balance sharing information and contact in a way that is timely but also manageable. We care about each family and our students and want to assure you we are working hard to serve them as well as we can in our time away from campus.

Sincerely,

Kelley Waldron, Ed.
Head of School

3.27.20

Dear St. Andrew’s Families,

As shared yesterday, Governor Kemp has now required all public schools to remain closed through April 24. We plan to continue with remote instruction as needed until that time. Again, if we are able to re-open sooner, we will do so as promptly as possible. We miss seeing our students each day!

Questions
We are aware of the questions and concerns that arise in the evolving nature of this situation. Please know we are working to examine and answer those within the context of our community as promptly as we can. We recognize the variables that are in play for all of us with work, parenting, and school. As we make decisions, we will work to communicate those as effectively, quickly and proactively as possible.

If you have individual questions specific to your child or your situation, please reach out to the most direct point of contact for that area of the school and we will work to assist and support you in any way we can.

Feedback and Connections
Next Tuesday’s eBlast will include some opportunities to connect as parents with me and others in the school community to hear your questions and for informal feedback. Please look for that and plug in where and how is most comfortable for you.

Support and Light
Your children are near and dear to our hearts, the reason we do the work we do, and we are working to serve them as well as we can amidst unprecedented times. As shared in the last eBlast, our community is our strongest asset. At some point, we will be past this moment and will be able to return to campus on a regular basis. It is worth our collaboration, support, and patience to work towards that point in time, and we will only be able to get there if we work together. We will be continuing to gather your feedback on successes and challenges and using that to inform our decision making. Please look for further communication through the eBlast and from Division Heads over the next week asking for that feedback. If you need something specific, please let us know. We are working to sustain and guide our community to the time and place when we are all together on campus again.

Sincerely,

Kelley Waldron

3.20.20

Dear St. Andrew’s Families,

We are working to make the best decisions possible with the information available to us in a way that allows for planning and preparation for your family. We know that all of us are re-organizing our work and family lives within a fluid situation. To that end, we are communicating the updates below as we move into the weekend.

Remote Learning Extension
The Health Department has informed our area that there is evidence of local, asymptomatic transmission of COVID-19 in our area. Chatham County has called a state of emergency until April 5. Given these developments, we are now planning to continue remote instruction through April 9, and to re-open our physical campus no earlier than April 14. If something changes substantially that allows us to re-open sooner, we will work to communicate and execute that quickly. However, given what we know from schools in areas that were impacted earlier than us, April 14 is a more realistic time frame for remote learning, and we are hopeful communicating that now allows you to plan better for the coming weeks.

Communication
If your inbox looks like mine, it is a little overwhelming at the moment. We appreciate your patience with emails as we work to communicate as well as we can amidst a very fluid situation.

All previous communications and emails from me are posted on the front of the website and can be accessed there for information and reference. We hope to be able to streamline communications as we launch to remote learning and minimize emails.

Support
As we all establish new norms, we appreciate your support as we work to deliver remote education that allows our students to have continuity and progression of learning and engagement. We will be gathering feedback and making adjustments as we find what works well and what presents challenges, and we will all be learning and growing together.

Division Heads will be sending out updates on ways to share that feedback by the end of the weekend, as well as a few modifications to supply pick up procedures that minimizes entrance to the buildings (but will still follow the same time schedule).

We are updating a portion of the LMS that we will soon make live with some ways to contact Nurse Dee for questions and support, access support with our Deans of Students and Counselor, and Learning Support through the Learning Resource Center. We are working to have that up and ready as we launch remote learning on Wednesday, March 25.

Looking Ahead
With some unknowns, know that our leadership team and faculty are working as hard as we can to help school continue to be a place for positive and meaningful growth, engagement, and learning in the next few weeks, albeit remotely. Our students are the most important aspect of our work, and their well-being, welfare, and care continue to be at the center of our planning and work.

Sincerely,

Kelley

3.16.20

Dear St. Andrew’s Families,

Following Governor Kemp’s announcement this evening and updated recommendations from the CDC, we will be closing the physical campus for an extended period following Spring Break.

The physical campus will be closed for classes until April 1 with hopes of resuming on-campus classes on Thursday, April 2. We will follow with more specific information in the coming days by division and grade level with plans and expectations for remote learning, which will begin formally on Wednesday, March 25. The move to remote learning will allow us to maintain the current school calendar and not require any additional make-up days.

We will use Monday and Tuesday following Spring Break to allow teachers to plan, and facilitate student pick up of materials. Please look for a communication by this Thursday (March 19) from your division head regarding the schedule for students to pick up their materials as needed on Tuesday, March 24.

We recognize the opportunities and challenges this presents to our families. During this time, our focus remains on our students and our mission, and creating the best opportunity for continued high quality learning experiences, care, and support to the best of our ability.

We have plans developed for remote learning to try to create consistency, normalcy, and meaningful engagement during this time away from school, allowing for as smooth a transition back to school as possible. These, too, will be shared by division as we move towards the end of the week. As shared in our communication when we practiced online learning prior to the break with students, this is a learning curve for most students and teachers. We appreciate your collaborative approach to sharing any feedback or questions as we launch a different delivery model.

While we hope to re-open to students on Thursday, April 2, we will be continuing to monitor the situation and make decisions with the input and guidance of health and education officials.

We send our well wishes to everyone in our community at this time. Additional information and details will follow in the coming days.

Sincerely,

Kelley Waldron
Head of School

• Required hand cleaning before and after break/lunch
• No salad bar (grab and go salads only) and pre-wrapped utensils
• Reduced use of communal resources in classes/gym and cleaning after each use
• Reminders to students to allow for more personal space (3 feet) in hallways, free time, classes, passing of classes
• For Lower School, students will report to home rooms in the morning instead of a daily morning assembly the first week after the break
• Reduction of large gathering
• Evaluation of field trips, extra-curriculars, and athletics on case-by-case based on the information we have available to us at that time.

• Modifications to student travel for field trips and athletics based on current information
• Altered schedules for athletics and extracurriculars
• Modifications that reduce students gathering in larger groups
• Utilizing remote learning as needed

Head of School