My two cents: I don’t think it’s more dangerous to attend school in the US than back home. If the boarding schools are open, my daughter will be there, but we’re not paying for Zoom lessons 7 time zones away.
Cate announced the plan is to start bringing students back at the end of August, classes start mid September, only two (long) breaks (Dec/Jan and March/April). They are nailing down details, but that’s the framework. More details to come next week.
Sounds like kids don’t come home for Thanksgiving and the school year will be longer overall, but for now school on campus is “a go!” ???
My guess is that other schools are on the same page and all will be revealed in the next couple of weeks.
@doschicos That was one of the things that wasn’t revealed. ?
Here’s the quote from the Headmaster:
“ We will bring our students back in stages and over time – somewhere between 10 days and two weeks – so that we can accomplish our return safely, complete the appropriate orientations, facilitate testing and screening, and prepare thoughtfully and together for the next phase. Our current plans imagine students – likely seniors - beginning to return the Mesa at the very end of August. We will be mindful, when establishing the exact timing of our senior return, of the late August SAT testing date to which many of our students have already made commitments.”
In a normal year the students do “Outings Week” camping trips the first week of “school”, which they aren’t doing this year. They might have some replacement for that on campus.
I also heard talk a while back that they expected to need to get students caught up after the distance learning. Wouldn’t be surprised if some of that is going to happen in those weeks.
Also, sports. There will be sports.
The onboarding includes Coronavirus testing for everyone, and they probably don’t want to start classes until the results are back.
Indeed. But if they are doing actual quarantine there should be no mixing whatsoever.
I think the idle time issue could be a real problem, if they can’t have meaningful extracurriculars and are not allowed to leave campus (which will be a major issue for kids wanting to do college visits, prospect days or showcases for their sport or just family stuff) there needs to be some really good programming for the kids. Which may be a major challenge if social distancing rules stay as strict as they are currently.
It all depends on how fast they can get the test results back, doesn’t it? I didn’t quote the whole email, but they are planning to “restrict movements” upon arrival until tests come back. I don’t know the details of that yet.
Pretty sure the administration knows idle teens = bad and has plans for that. In normal years, prefects, leaders and varsity athletes (read: most students) all get to campus at least a week before freshmen do - this schedule doesn’t sound so different to me.
Also, this is the Santa Barbara area we are talking about. Never too hot, never too cold, and rarely rains. They will have the kids outside busy doing stuff, no problem.
That said, teens will be teens.
It may be a smidge easier to orchestrate covid protocol at Cate than at other schools based on the small size and layout of the campus. It is a gated community with a security guard, and maybe 60-ish boarders in each class. It has a lot less acreage than most of the East Coast schools, and fewer places to sneak off to. There will probably be more adults than students for the first few days of a staggered re-entry. I am more confident of kiddo’s (and our) safety with him there than were he to be home and going to the public school.
The college tour thing is going to be hard to do. I was thinking about that - colleges aren’t going to be operating normally either - even assuming the kids can travel (esp to the East Coast) to do college tours - what is the point if college admissions offices and campuses aren’t running normally? I am not sure how much those will happen, nor how much college reps will come to the school. I feel bad for the class of 2021.
Oh, and no parents weekends this year, I am guessing.
Athletic recruiting is going to be a mess, for sure. I don’t know how it can be done when there are no games against other schools.
@CateCAParent while no specifics quite yet, I expect that our framework for arrival / onboarding will look very similar to what you described. Testing + quarantine prior to arrival, another test + quarantine upon arrival, and a 3rd test prior to classes starting. About 3 weeks from what we have been told to accomplish this staggered approach before classes begin. Our calendar is the big question mark - will the kids stay through Thanksgiving, or will they come home and stay through Christmas? I am hoping to get answers within a week.
It’s hard for me to imagine a scenario where students stay on campus during Thanksgiving. I don’t think that would fly at my kid’s school, and parents would object. We also had a zoom meeting about a week ago about fall scenarios. Final decisions will come in July, but they did float the option of kids going home for Thanksgiving, then having online classes for the weeks between Thanksgiving and Winter break, and then returning in January. The possibility of starting earlier in August was also mentioned, but again, nothing concrete yet. Although they did sound hopeful to have kids return on campus for the fall and already announced that there would be no parents weekend.
I agree @dramakid2 that staying through Thanksgiving without any breaks or parents weekend would be a long haul - especially for freshmen. That said, I strongly believe that each school is turning over every stone in an attempt to find the best balance for their community, and that the final framework will likely look different on each campus.
The administrators are in a tight spot because while residential experience is why people choose boarding schools and therefore it makes sense to try your hardest to bring kids back to campus. But there is a real danger of the experience ending up being terrible and nothing like the ‘real’ boarding school experience, which could have long lasting negative effects as well. So it is a really tough call to make.
Just heard from my son’s school that they are returning “on schedule” everyone should “self-isolate” one week prior to arriving, all students will be tested when they arrive. Dorm halls will be deemed “cohorts” and not interact with other “cohorts” for the first two weeks to be safe. Cloth face coverings will be provide and are required when social distancing is not possible. Remote learning after Thanksgiving up to Christmas break with a return to campus in January. Athletic activities are up in the air with a variety of options being considered. Parents weekend will be virtual/zoom.
What a daunting task, right? So many Interrelated moving parts and so many tiny details to consider. Big picture you have international travel concerns and small picture how do you orchestrate move in day when a parent needs to run into town to buy a forgotten essential? How are you going to do choral practices? How much extra time do you have to set aside each morning for screening protocol? Meals - omg how do you get everyone fed lunch? How are admissions tours going to work? So.many.details.
The school said something about having 90 admin, staff and teachers all divided into many working groups to address the many issues. They are working on their final reports and recommendations this week. The level of detail required is impossible to fathom esp. with all of the uncertainty to plan around. I can believe it takes 90 people and an entire summer.
Kiddo is all for a Thanksgiving at school - thinks it will be a blast - way better than hanging out with all of us old folks. ? It will definitely be hard on the freshmen and their parents, though. I am bummed, but will get over it. We’ll do a second one when he gets home.
I wonder what schools will do if they have a high percentage of day students. It will be very difficult to control the spread of the virus if students are constantly entering and leaving campus.
@novaboymom , even the schools that are 100% boarding have faculty and staff who come and go. And many are in areas where the medical infrastructure is less than robust. Maybe more manageable if nothing goes wrong, probably less if it does.
I think this is why everyone is being so wishy washy in their communications. We are all just going to have to be more comfortable taking more risk, which we’re going to be spending a lot of energy managing.
I am guessing day students will have to be screened like employees are at companies. I am also guessing there will be a lot of new rules (like keeping day students out of dorms, creating day student lounges that are off limits to boarders, etc.) although it will depend, I suppose, on whether there is a sense that these "incremental " measures will make a difference when they are sharing classrooms, etc.
Just happy it’s not my job to figure this all out!
I’ve heard that Hotchkiss is considering not allowing day students. Everyone boarding, and each student in a single room. This is not official, but scuttlebutt.
^^ That would be simplest. And disastrous for community relations unless they offer those kids beds.
Many schools have their financial sustainability tied into that day/boarding mix so lopping one or the other is a huge issue. Schools with big endowments can probably soldier through but it’ll cost them.
Of course, everything is turned on its head right now anyway.