This sobering letter from the President of Amherst College, Biddy Martin, may give some insight into what considerations and options boarding schools are examining for the Fall.
Testing, tracing, social distancing, space for isolation and quarantines, masks, gloves - all will/may be required, plus radically redesigned academic and social schedules.
https://www.amherst.edu/amherst-story/president/statements/node/770411
I’m hoping that the ultimate decision(s) will rest with the student and their families. Some families may not feel safe with onsite learning in the Fall and others may. There might be some variance based on where the BS is located and its relation relative to current outbreaks. There might be many schools which offer a hybrid model. Take your pick online learning or onsite for the Fall.
There is no zero-risk policy. I find people keep trying to make one but no one is going to stay in the house for years on end.
There are no BS’s that are 100% insular ( even those with 100% boarders). Some might be in an area where there are many hospitals and some may be in areas that are hotbeds of infection ( present or future). Each school is going to have to decide what is best. I honestly think school will start in September (likely without a lot of international students initially). International students might have a hard time getting VISAs in time or might not want to be on a plane for 20+ hours with multiple legs. I think schools will close and reopen in waves over the next year or two.
Thx for posting the Amherst letter. I actually found hope in it – that there are some mindful ways of us easing back to some elements of “regular” life that might be doable by fall. (I had frankly completely written off fall.) As the letter states, there is no zero-risk scenario. But, there is calculated, minimized risk, which doesn’t include us just giving up because we are tired of our own homes. I appreciated this thoughtful letter, and feel more optimistic now actually. Next year may not be exactly what we had all dreamed of. But it may not be the at-home-quarantine-life we have come to experience now, either.
@buuzn03 I agree wholeheartedly…I guess I should’ve acknowledged that I’m not holding my breath for a “perfect scenario” to happen. The risk/virus will exist for months and possibly years regardless of location. This is one of the times I wish there was such a thing as an “easy” button. Everyone do your best to stay safe and healthy!!!
The idea that “flu is a greater threat” didn’t age well, as many of us in the CC Forums were becoming worried back in January:
@SportyPrep At the very moment I wrote the post you quote from above, the average American WAS at much higher risk of ending up in the hospital with the flu than with the coronavirus.
There wasn’t anything the average person in the US could do at that time to prepare for the coronavirus – the preparation was up to public health officials and government and many balls were dropped. All we mere mortals in the US could do was wash our hands and avoid travel to infected areas. Thankfully, the hand washing helped limit the spread of the flu, too.
The irony: Many of the people I know who were posting fearfully about the coronavirus very early on were also the people who never get flu vaccines.
(And now we seem to see a lot of anti-vaxxers pushing to re-open the economy and end social distancing measures? That’s something I just don’t understand.)
@ParentPrepped Thanks for posting the Amherst letter.
It does a great job of describing the measures a school would have to take, including building out facilities for quarantining those who test positive or are returning to campus from areas with active infection.
It also mentions the possibility of older faculty or those at higher risk continuing to teach online. Frankly, that is one of my concerns. Our child’s school has so many beloved older faculty who I would hate to put in harm’s way.
This article dives into that a bit. Its focus is on college, but it is an interesting read nonetheless: https://insidehighered.com/news/2020/05/04/plans-fall-assume-professors-will-be-willing-teach-will-they?utm_content=buffer931c4&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=IHEbuffer&fbclid=IwAR0ga-3AxJi_7AYydP31DvieJoqRJzgvMz9eVPViBGks_d2vqy7Ajntj55k
My son’s BS had a flu outbreak in February and we were just talking about the possibility that it could have been Covid-19!
I’ve been thinking about this all week and I’m pretty sure Lizardkid had Covid. He got sick mid January (had been in a few big wrestling tournaments with lots of kids returning from Aisa and Europe from Winter Break). We was having trouble breathing trying to walk up the hills at school, would get chills so bad at night that he’d put on 3 layers and 3 blankets. Persistant cough He’d run a fever at night, but wouldn’t have one when he went to the health center during the day. Really tired and run down. I remember a rash in the beginning because the first day he called saying he had a rash and trouble breathing I thought he had been exposed to lavender (he’s highly allergic). He was pretty sick for 3 weeks then started to get better just as I was at my wit’s end and about to go down and get him to have his lungs xrayed to make sure he didn’t have pnemonia.
A week later he got sick again. The nurse at the health center happened to be unpacking flu tests when his wrestling coach sent him because he was sick of him coughing. He tested positive for flu and was sent home.
When I took him to the doctor I remember asking how he could have had the flu for a full month and still be testing positive. She told me there was no way he had flu that long, but whatever he had before had lowered his immunity so that he got flu (despite having the flu shot).
I had a dry cough and lost my sense of smell while Lizardkid was home recovering from flu and figured he had just given me the flu but maybe he was still shedding COVID. In fact, I remember googling “can cough medicine make you lose your sense of smell?”.
I’m pretty curious now and thinking about getting the antibody test.
My son was also very sick around Feb 20th, which was about 2 weeks after the long winter weekend. He only had a fever for one day and tested negative for the flu, so they did not send him home. But for over a week he had a nasty cough, terrible fatigue, some nausea and body aches. It was difficult for him to make it through the 8 days he had left until Spring Break began. At the time I remember him calling me and telling me that he thought he had the virus from China. And at that time I was telling him that the only Americans who had it were on cruise ships. Now it seems that it was brought to the east coast as early as January and February, which makes sense with the timing. I’m hoping that we can get antibody tests, because I also think he had it.
The Hotchkiss Head of School just sent out a letter. He said that reopening would depend first on whether the state would allow them to, and then on their plans. The letter was fairly long and with a lot of thought/detail, but one thing stood out to me, and that was how Hotchkiss had navigated the pandemics of the past, not only the 1918 influenza, but polio and other influenzas. He said that Hotchkiss made itself an island, and that it was fortunate to be in a rural area, with such a large, self contained campus. (note, he did not say that was what Hotchkiss would be doing, but what it had done in the past). The school would be making the decision about returning in July.
I’m feeling really hopeful about Fall term as I just received an invitation to Zoom with the HOS as he discussed
" reopening XXXXX School in the fall on Tuesday, May 19th at 1:00 PM. We will send out the Zoom link for XXXX’s talk on Tuesday morning.
We are all eager to move toward a sense of normalcy and XXXX’s talk will shed all the available light we have on how we will safely reopen our campus to students, faculty, and staff in the fall of 2020. "
I know I’m reading too much “that means they will reopen” into that statement, but at least there seems to be a plan in place to reopen. I’ll know more next Tuesday.
DDs current school has already stated they will open unless there’s a governmental restriction barring it in place. They will not follow the public schools; should the districts decide to retain remote learning. We remain hopeful that both our kids will return to physical classrooms.
@buuzn03 We also have a zoom scheduled to discuss the plan for the fall, and I am very curious what they have to say. I do think that to a large degree it is really not in their hands as the government go-ahead as well as being able to comply with all restrictions in place is a key here. Gov. Lamont (CT) already outlined his vision of what it would take to re-open residential schools and the requirements are pretty stringent - you have to show your plans to test and trace your population, deal with any outbreak, and vacate campus again if required. Plus no gatherings over 50 people, masks, and yet to be determined dorm capacity restrictions with very small group of kids to be ‘family unit’ who could share living space and interact without masks.
I am having hard time imagining how boarding school (and college for my older kid) will look like given all the restrictions they are talking about even if they do re-open. It will not be anything like last year for sure. So I think the ‘HOW’ is just as important as ‘IF’ reopening can actually happen. Of course I keep hoping there is a major breakthrough (effective antivirals are the best chance IMO near term) this summer which would be a game changer.
Absolutely the how is the biggest and most complicated component. My hats off to these administrators who are trying to get hold of such a fluid situation and make plans for a very unpredictable future.
Some things I’ve heard discussed for DS school are staggering when kids come back, Having dorms and classes that are one grade only/staggering lunches by grade, etc. So basically you’d only be interacting with your grade (about 70 people at DS school, so seems reasonable).
@vwlizard Did they say anything about extracurriculars - sports, musical ensembles, or theatre?
They haven’t yet, but I’ll hear more Thursday. I’m thinking there won’t be a fall sports season as that would involve travel off campus and contact. Although I know a few local colleges (MA) that as of now are having athletes return 8/15.
Cate & Thacher have the advantage of being able to hold classes outdoors for most of the year, if need be
Have any of you heard rumblings from your kids that some of their friends’ parents may not let their kids come back in the fall even if school does happen?
I am starting to hear such talk. Not sure if it is one-offs or an actual thing. Figuring we will know more when the next big tuition installment is due in July.
True that about Cal schools having more options. Outdoor classes and meals year round is totally do-able (With the exception of the occasional rainy day).
Cate still seems to be full speed ahead with opening in the fall with kids in dorms on campus. The only thing that will stop them is an order from local or state government. DH and I have a bet - he thinks they aren’t opening in the fall, I think they are. The two parts I worry about are dorms (boys bathrooms anyone?) and screening people coming in - they would have to do daily testing at the gate.
Asked kiddo about what options he preferred, and he said to go back in the summer and not come home until Christmas. ??. Apparently Thanksgiving vacay with friends and fab weather is better than coming home and hanging with old people. ?