Also, regarding the Black at [School] accounts, it’s truly horrifying to see some of the events described on those accounts. At the very least, people on this board should definitely take a look at their own school’s account; most of the schools mentioned on this board follow the naming scheme “blackatSCHOOL” except Deerfield (blackatdeerfieldofficial). After looking at my own school’s account, I definitely had an altered perspective on the administration and student culture.
Not necessarily. Depends on the school location and state/local regulations. There are number of states where summer workouts for football and soccer teams started already, and fall public/private sports season is planned. It is a lot less complicated when all the kids live locally and there is little travel involved. There are some baseball and lacrosse tournaments happening fairly soon too, just not in the NE. So depending where the kids live, they may have other options, either locally or elsewhere (IMG etc).
@Happytimes2001 – the NYT firewall is just an interface to enter in your email account and then you have access. (in other words, it’s free, but it does encourage you to sign up and pay but you don’t have to in order to read the article). The accounts are on IG from what I am seeing.
Yikes. I can’t imagine not moving our daughter into her dorm room as a new student!! Really hoping the schools are able to relax some of these guidelines by the time schools open. And in the meantime, I’m reminding myself that in person school, under strange circumstances, is better than remote school.
In regards to the blackat… movement. I have kept a close eye on our school’s blackat instagram page and we have received correspondence from the school. It is heart breaking reading the many stories (especially when I saw one written by a student who was a year above me, way back when). I do hope this is a way to hash everything out and find ways to prevent this same behavior in the future. Unfortunately, I’d imagine most private high schools have similar stories.
“Will students be able to clean their masks on campus? How will masks be cleaned?
Students will be provided enough masks to have a clean one each day of the week. Masks will be laundered by a professional laundry service, at no cost to the student, along with sheets and towels.” - Taken from the Choate FAQ
Does Choate normally wash sheets and towels each week or this a covid precaution??
Hotchkiss just sent an email. They say that Connecticut requires two things as an initial hurdle before they can open: 1) cases must be low and declining in the area and 2) Hotchkiss must have enough testing to test everyone frequently.
Right now, the first benchmark is met; and the second is not as securing enough testing is difficult. However Hotchkiss is hopeful that it can get enough tests by August.
They will be bringing students back but will also be offering the curriculum online as well. They are working with a consultant in the field to improve their online delivery.
If a student tests positive, or if someone has had close contact with a positive person, parents will be expected to come to campus to collect their child to quarantine them for 14 days. If you live too far away to do that they ask that you designate someone to fill that role. And if you can’t do that, Hotchkiss will help find a solution.
Students will be expected to wear masks and to wipe down their desks at the end of class.
Athletics are being decided by the Founders League, which will make a decision in the second half of July.
Hotchkiss is working with a Yale epidemiologist and public health expert to vet their plans and make suggestions. He did a site visit to look at the dorm plans, dining hall plans, classrooms etc and found that the plans were good.
@cityran Choate does not normally wash sheets and towels for the students. In fact, I know of a couple of students who don’t normally wash sheets and towels for themselves (or at least there rooms smell like it).
@altras Seems like a great silver lining to all the Covid changes. And I really hope my daughters school offers a similar sheets/towels laundry program, because I’m 90% sure she won’t wash them with any regularity own her own account (shiver).
Some students show up every year without parents and do just fine. Not ideal, but they’ll manage.
However… washing sheets and having beds remade and sheets put on are two different things. I could definitely see one of my kids back then not prioritizing bed making and sleeping without sheets for awhile.
Thacher’s Head of School sent out an email this afternoon (may I please say how amazing she is; with each communication we receive from her we are increasingly grateful our son chose Thacher) and laid out the plans for the upcoming school year. In summary, students will NOT return home for Thanksgiving or Spring Break but will have an extended Winter Break and school will end earlier than normal (late May versus early June). There will be a staggered start to school (" . . . seniors on August 30, freshmen on September 6, sophomores on September 12, and juniors on September 13.") It’s a lot to process. Obviously we are grateful and relieved beyond belief that our son will be back at a place where he is oh so happy, and yet I am struggling to accept that he will only be home twice in the space of 8.5 months. No mention of family weekend (that is obviously off the table) or whether or not families will be allowed to visit.
You’re right. Having given it more thought, I can see how a parents-free move in can really benefit a new student. He/she is forced to jump right into the school community and immediately bonds with whoever helps him/her move in. In fact, the camp my daughter attends each summer has a similar drop off. They want campers settling in without their parents hovering. Having said that, my heart hurts a little bit thinking about it. Our daughter is a bit anxious about all of this, so each time there is a change in the plan I can’t help but stress (no parents weekend, short drop off, possibly no parent visits, etc). Trying to refocus my expectations (again). I trust the school will make this work…and I’ll just plan on drinking a lot of wine in September!
I’ll pretend I never brought up laundry…carry on. ?
I find it pretty interesting that there is as much variation in plans as there is. We all talk about fit and school personality- curious whether people feel their school’s planning approach and the actual plan reflect the school’s personality well.
I don’t think anyone can say one plan is better than another. I am not interested in judging, just curious about whether the plans fit the school. Deerfield is forging its own path, Thacher and Cate are making kids give up a Thanksgiving, some schools hired outside consultants, Choate is incorporating laundry service. It is fascinating how schools approach this.
Choate’s plan is very inconvenient for an international student.
As a MD, PhD I think that testing when arriving to campus and quarantine until getting a negative result should be enough. It’s not Ebola or smallpox we’re talking about.
Our daughter couldn’t do 14 days of quarantine on her own in the US - typical boarding school rules also forbid this. My husband and I can’t leave work for +/- 16 days to stay with her in a hotel.
Also a year of Zoom lessons is out of the question.
I could definitely see one of my kids back then not prioritizing bed making and sleeping without sheets for awhile.