I don’t know the details and we do not have a child at SPS, but I think that general plan sounds good. However, the key aspect is that if a family or any faculty does not feel comfortable with the on-campus opening, they can fully participate remotely. That is really important and crucial to give choice to faculty/families.
I don’t attend Deerfield, but is true that a lot of athletes might not attend there this year because of the likely sports cancellations in fall/winter? I’ve only heard it from friends of friends who go there, and I really thought this was interesting.
@Pphhiilliipp I know only one athlete who is actually leaving Deerfield. I do know a fair number of kids (at Deerfield and other BSs) who plan to be doing remote learning and club sports at home until the BS sports are back up and running. Some have already made that call while others are waiting for the official sports announcement. Some schools are more willing to try to make something happen than others, or at least are saying so at this time. In any event, it seems most schools will have fair amount of remote learning even for kids who do make it to campus, so it may not be that different from the learning perspective. For juniors/seniors in particular, changing schools at this late stage is not easy, and particularly if you have a nice FA package it does not make a ton of sense.
@417WHB That makes sense. I know of a few hockey players who were/are considering playing junior hockey this season rather than stay at a BS and have at most an abbreviated season. I was looking at their plan and not going to school all of December wouldn’t be helpful for winter teams. Is Deerfield planning on having fall/winter interscholastic sports??
It is highly likely that off campus/club sports will not be played, if schools sports are not. One’s not linked to the other, but if circumstances are such that it is not safe to play interscholastic sports, then I imagine the same circumstances will make it unsafe to play club sports.
2 months ago I would have thought the same. However, club sports really operate like the Wild West. They are practicing right now and playing in games/tournaments over the coming 3 weeks. Practicing on fields of private and public high schools. And these are NE schools that seem unlikely to hold competitive sports in the fall. Kind of odd/ironic that they are signing off on use of their fields by middle/high school age club teams now in July, but unlikely hold sports come Fall months.
@CMKDad - are these schools perhaps receiving $$ for the use of their fields? That might explain it. FWIW we know that at least in one area of the NE, there must be permits granted by the town for use of their fields and there are guidelines for the number of players on each field, wearing of masks to/from the field, and no parents. We also know of ice rinks open now in the NE for hockey club practice this week. Please share information @ hockey tournaments for travel/club.
To my friend above who doubted @ club/travel will happen in the Fall: Club hockey practice is on in some states. Club lax is on in some states. Football practice is on in some states. Field hockey skills clinics are on in some states. One tournament on this weekend a golf tournament last week. There is a $$ to club/travel that is at play here…also ice time $$?
@Golfgr8 - the schools, both private and public, are getting paid for use of their fields. I am seeing/experiencing this with lax. It is full GO mode. Full contact practices now and games/tournaments starting. I’m not totally comfortable with it, but the horse is out of the barn on this front.
The club teams are run as a business so they’ll push hard (er) to play. Schools factor in sports as one data point.
Do seem to be some sports that will be more Covid safe than others. I think many schools will do limited sports “activities”(exercise) in place of sports.
Lizardkid is looking pretty smart now. When looking at schools he insisted on picking one he’d want to go to even if he weren’t playing his sport. He picked a school that was a step-down in terms of athletics, but where he saw himself fitting in the best. It’s proving to be a very wise move.
I was on the SPS webinar and had a different impression than the previous poster. Yes, there are a lot of open questions and uncertainty. I would rather they take their time and make decisions based on science and facts rather than make a premature decision just to follow the herd. They expect to be able to share more information next week but cautioned, repeatedly, that things can change.
The general idea is that, since SPS has no day students and most faculty and support staff live on campus, they hope to essentially quarantine the school from the surrounding area. They will require tests prior to arriving on campus and then will test everyone again within the first week.
They are starting a week early and plan to gather outdoors, rather than indoors, as often as possible. My impression is that they may limit students returning to campus after Thanksgiving as the rector said that she had already directed the ballet company to prepare to record “The Nutcracker” prior to break.
Students will not be allowed off-site, at least initially. Sports will focus on “skill drills” for September. They may resume some inter-school competitions in October, if conditions allow. Classes will be available remotely as well as in-person so students can determine what is best for them, given their own personal situation.
Students will be required to wear masks indoors and follow social distancing guidelines. Students that flaunt these rules will be asked to go home and continue remotely (although this will not be considered a disciplinary action.) They will have 110 doubles and those will be allocated to students who request a double.
Classes will be staggered to reduce the crowds at mealtimes and there will be more remote “grab & go” locations. They have hired additional cleaning staff and have asked students to bring less stuff to campus, for ease of cleaning and also so that students can return home easily, if necessary.
Clearly there are still a number of open questions. Despite the fact that students are coming from all over the country (world? TBD) I agree with SPS that students do better at school and I’m looking forward to my kid returning.
Some relevant news: Ivy Leauge will be likely pushing their fall sports to the spring semester of 2021. I’m assuming traditionally winter sports would follow as well. Even if the rest of the NCAA doesn’t follow suit, NEPSAC and MAPL would probably follow suit and officially shut down interscholastic competition for the fall and winter.
I know that the Founders Leauge is going to be making an announcement in mid-late July for their decision.
@Pphhiilliipp All fall sports? I have heard that rumor about football, but I don’t see how they can move all fall (and winter?) sports to spring, they do not have enough field capacity to make it work. Plus Harvard just announced all their classes will be online for the entire year, and only limited portion of the student body will be allowed on campus at any given point (freshmen in the fall).
On another note, what do people think about the new visa regulations for international students? Seems like an issue for schools like Exeter that are planning to offer online only classes:
@417WHB Here is where I read about this:
https://swimswam.com/report-ivy-league-expected-to-push-all-fall-sports-to-spring-2021/
@417WHB I have a feeling that the schools that have yet to announce their plans (e.g. PA) are now scrambling to add at least some in-person classes to their plan for exactly that reason. And I wouldn’t be surprised to see the likes of PEA amend theirs for the same reason.
100% agree with that assessment. Also Harvard, and the many other colleges that turned their ‘hybrid’ schedules into everything being offered online in the last two weeks, in spite of making a big announcement about allowing students (some of them anyway) to come back to campus. Of course, in order to pull that change off they need to convince some faculty to teach in person, which I think is the sticking point in a large number of educational institutions.
Harvard ( and many other colleges) likely don’t have the dorm space to accommodate international students. Since they already announced how it will work 2020-21 with the mixed group of students, they can’t change it or the US kids wouldn’t have a dorm. So it’s not really a matter of adding an in-person class to circumvent the ICE rule. You need dorms ( and food service etc).
Likewise, PEA might have the same issue with space.
Going to be tough to get US parents to ante up for online classes and yet allow international students to take a course ( or two) in person.
I think they’ll be a lot of backlash across the board. But given that the embassies are already closed many international kids at BS are already making other arrangements. Many stayed in the US and many won’t be able to get to the US. I think college students are likely similar. I’d bet it will affect Grad and Phd students the most as many work over the Summer. Without in person classes their visas expire. And they need to have proper documentation in order to get many post grad positions. Everything is online so the State dept can track visas etc. It’s doubtful ICE would be tracking people down but that doesn’t mean students will be able to avoid the law.
For many, the closed airline routes will stop their plans before these new rules will.
Harvard and others are now suing and I’m sure pursuing an injunction, so we’ll see.
I disagree that schools now simply “can’t change it” owed to something arbitrary like beds, rooms, etc. They could adopt a lottery, switch from semesters to trimester, limit to certain grades, or any number of other creative solutions already set at other schools.
Anyone else hearing about schools starting their individual class years/grades on different days - or a staggered start? Not a big change, since first years and new students start a day or two earlier in normal times. Also, parents have to schedule a drop off time with the school for their 15 minutes of …”Bye, see you at Thanksgiving” outside/in car…Ummmm…for those of you with lots of stuff, there will be official helpers to haul it into the dorm room for your kid.
Anyone else rethinking this endeavor? Wow…I admit we are having second thoughts and I have been on here since kiddo was in 7th grade! Anyone else doubting this decision…I have not yet written the check, so I still have time!