Still waiting on the deets from Cate, we don’t know much other than the kids will be back, no Thxgvg, staggered arrival, testing on arrival, classes start mid Sept.
The explanation we got re why no Thxgiving is that it reflects the later start of flu season in Cal v NE. They are trying to eek out as much school as possible before flu season hits (high risk period is December and Jan). NE schools have to eek out as much as possible after (high risk period = late November and December).
Re: international students, I am guessing a lot more attrition, now that things are comparatively going off the rails in the US. Though NE is looking way better than the rest of the country (fingers crossed you all keep going in the right direction and the rest of us figure ourselves out).
DH said he heard some education expert interview, in which the expert speculated a loss of the equivalent of 8 months of student learning on average as a result of covid. All the more reason to get these kids back on their campuses and in their classrooms. That is a devastating loss.
Lville just shared their full plan. I’m so relieved parents are allowed to move students in!! I was having major anxiety over that.
A few highlights:
-All students will be in singles (half the senior class will be in a nearby hotel)
-8 student max in a classroom, with a rotating schedule of students using zoom instead of going into class
-Maximizing outdoor space for classrooms, extracurricular activities, etc
Staggered arrival
-Self quarantine for 14 days prior to arrival as well as a negative test result
-Testing on campus
-Remote learning “Turkey Term” between Thanksgiving and Winter Break
-Sports still up in the air, but at the least the teams will practice and work on skills
-Restricted movement off campus/weekends home etc
Hi CateCAParent - Thank you for your insight about Cate. I have enjoyed reading your posts. My child is waitlisted at Cate - and would very much like to attend. In your experience - do they ever go to the waitlist? Do you think with international students not able to attend that they are more likely to move to the list?
How was DL this spring?
Thanks…a MOM looking for her child to be happy at Cate!
What the “self quarantine for 14 days prior to arrival” means? We would self quarantine at home for at least 14 days before leaving for the school, but then we will have to fly to the destination. Do we have to find some hotel near school to self quarantine for 14 days?
This will depend on state…and will probably change between now and September. At the moment, NJ requires certain states to quarantine once they arrive in NJ. Our child would fall under that quarantine. So instead of doing a self quarantine at home, we would have to do it in NJ. I’m hoping we can instead have her do it in a nearby low covid risk state where she has family, because neither my husband nor I are able to spend 14 days in New Jersey.
Hi @scruffylexi! Welcome! I will keep my fingers crossed for your child to get a spot at Cate. It is truly a special place.
At this point I am just wildly speculating, so don’t go by anything I am saying.
As of now, tuition checks are due July 1. I don’t think they have bumped it back as some schools have. So I expect more news imminently- some parents are going to need more information than what we have before they commit. From what I understand they have 90 people involved with the decisions, broken into task forces, and all of the recommendations came back last Monday. They are compiling and making final decisions now. I will let you know what I hear.
I know they have gone to the waitlist in the past, but this year they didn’t. All bets are off what happens next. I especially have no clue for incoming freshmen. I have heard rumors of a couple of kids not coming back, but not a mass exodus.
DL - a mixed bag. How do you teach chorus or ceramics via zoom? Some teachers adapted better than others. From what kiddo said, the classes couldn’t cover the entire syllabus so he feels like he is behind. There was a lot more self-directed project-oriented work, which stressed him out, even though the students were told no one’s grades would go down. He is a kid who learns more in class than with the homework, so he missed in person classes a lot. He fared pretty well overall though - worked harder and learned more than his friends from home, that’s for sure. The teachers bent over backwards to be accessible and accommodating - even more so than they already are. Overall, I am satisfied with how it went.
The Cate experience, more than any of the other schools we visited, is very intertwined with its setting. Not that others aren’t- community is the whole point of bs, right? But there is something about the campus and location (the peacefulness? The elevation? The seclusion? The ocean?) that impacts how people live together and work. DL is completely incompatible with it. It is not what Cate is about at all. That said, the faculty did a remarkable job in a tough situation, and I trust in their commitment to their students. If they were stuck doing DL again, they will have learned from what worked and didn’t, and I believe will implement a much improved DL program. I would pay the money to have him DL again with Cate teachers over reverting to our public school.
The EU has named 14 countries whose citizens are deemed “safe” to be let in from 1 July, despite the pandemic - but the US, Brazil and China are excluded.
Those named include Australia, Canada, Japan, Morocco and South Korea.
The EU is ready to add China if the Chinese government offers a reciprocal deal for EU travellers, diplomats say.
@Happytimes2001 No you were right, avoid DL at all costs is my goal. Public school in person does not offer the same as a prep school (even online), but my DS would be depressed looking at a full year (potentially) on a computer and missing 80% of the prep school experience. He is already way too nervous waiting for the decision. I would rather he goes public for a year and then return, if that was possible.
BUT with other schools committing to coming back and none announcing DL, I am more hopeful than I was last week. Fingers crossed!
@PrepDad2018 Well, no one really knows. If I had to bet money, I’d say the Fall will be very conservative with schools figuring out how to keep everyone healthy and crossing their fingers. Some of the schools are able to accommodate students and some might even be close to normal when compared to the Spring. Many are holding classes and have figured out ways to make dining and activities work.
After Winter break there will likely be some issues. Flu season is always a drag but this year will be worse as no one will know if it’s Covid/Flu and a quick spread across a small campus is likely. I honestly think that our BS had some cases in the Jan/Feb timeframe. Maybe or maybe not, but I think the Flu level was off the charts and not normal flu either.
My kids didn’t mind DL ( shocker actually). One actually liked it. But having a kid sit around in their bedroom all day isn’t anyone’s idea of a great education.
I think you might have trouble getting back into the BS if your son doesn’t start this year. There are likely many parents who won’t send their kids ( international and other) and many who were waiting to see how this played out and didn’t accept a spot who will reapply when/if this passes. Like the stock market it’s hard to time.
I also have an incoming Freshman who isn’t excited about the prospect of making friends with a mask on. Not to even mention, the sports are still up in the air.
Let’s hope the spikes pass quickly and people can learn to adjust to the waves of outbreaks. I never thought I’d be hoping for herd immunity as the solution, but I am.
@CateCAParent - thank you so much for your thoughtful response. I really appreciate it. Good to know that the binding deadline is July 1st. It will help us make a decision. My child was just offered a spot at a local day school - we applied late and I am trying to hold them off as long as possible for the hope that Cate will come through.
Also good to know that they did not go to the waitlist this year…it certainly is anything but an normal admission cycle.
Glad to hear that your son managed DL - I agree - one of the biggest assets is being on the Mesa and what that environment does for kids…
Upperclassmen move in roughly as planned, lowerclassmen move in roughly three weeks later
All classes online to begin with, might be able to figure out how to do some in-person later
All singles and large/divided doubles; some kind of “new campus living space” to make room for people . . . not at all clear yet what that will look like
Resentment is building @ faculty kids being able to leave for their travel/club teams. Prospect camps in fall, college visits, and (BTW) the illicit businesses they run to make$$ ( yes, faculty just pretend they don’t know). Boarding students can’t leave campus - even though we have signed up for travel/club and tournaments.
I have to admit that with each passing day, I feel more pessimistic about the fall term. A month ago I had a positive outlook on fall, as states started to reopen and people went back to work. But the headlines over the past week have been sobering. It’s been making me wonder if even the best laid plans will be successful in getting kids back to campus.
Pennsylvania was one of the slowest states to reopen, and the governor faced significant backlash with his delays. Yet despite the careful opening, positive cases are increasing in the state. That’s not totally unexpected- but it’s terrifying to look at AZ and FL that had relatively low cases in Spring and where they are now. Just shows how many people are still vulnerable.
Then you have professional and college athletes who show up for spring training / camp etc and they find asymptotic positive cases. There’s just no way you are going to repopulate a BS without positive cases.
I feel like I’ve been wavering between taking the virus seriously but not panicking over it, to feeling panic and even agoraphobia over the thought of one of us testing positive and experiencing severe symptoms. There is so much conflicting information out there that I don’t even know what to believe anymore.
Our local public school released plans for how they are going to handle the fall term if social distancing is still required. Kids will be split alphabetically and only be on campus 2 days a week and the other 3 will be online. They faced immediate backlash over this plan, and stated that this will only happen if social distancing is required. Given the current environment, I think social distancing is not going away anytime soon.
That being said, the public school’s online education curriculum was laughable, and I will certainly pay for my kids to get privately educated (online if need be) rather than put up with the mediocre online delivery from our public school.
Yes @Calliemomofgirls at most schools I know of they get the best of both worlds - day students technically but also get the perks of boarding, living on campus, and knowing faculty very well…some schools seem to give more perks than others.
@Golfgr8 my mind went to someone renting a 15-pax van and overcharging car-less boarding school juniors to take them for college visits. HAHAHA! Clearly, I have much to learn about the dark underbelly of boarding school life. (Glad I have you veterans to guide me!)