Dear St. Andrew’s Families,
I hope you all have had a happy and healthy summer! I write to you today to share our planned approach to COVID-19 for the 2022-23 school year, outlined below. As with last year, our goal is two-fold: to allow all students to have a “normal,” full, and rich St. Andrew’s experience—that is, an education premised on proximity, connection, and congregation—while also supporting and protecting the health of all members of our community, just as we would do in any school year. This year, we do not expect to avoid or eliminate COVID in our community; rather, we expect to have cases of COVID on campus and will work to decrease both the adverse health events and the life disruption that attends individual COVID infections. A fully vaccinated and boosted student body and faculty is the foundation of our approach. All students are required to have the COVID-19 vaccination and third dose (booster) before coming to school for the 2022-23 school year. Vaccination and boosters help to prevent transmission and decrease the risk of severe disease.
As you review these guidelines, please be aware that the school’s COVID response team will continue to follow COVID developments—newly detected variants, testing approaches, changes in transmission, prevention strategies, and advances in treatment—and we will adjust our approach when necessary.
Pre-Arrival/Arrival Protocols
We request that all students take a COVID-19 test at home 24 hours before arriving on campus for their move-in day. Only positive tests need to be reported to the Health Center (healthcenter@standrews-de.org or 302-285-4240). Your child should not come to school if they test positive; report the positive test to the Health Center and we will work with you to make a plan for your child’s return to school.
Regardless of COVID-19 test results, students with colds or any other respiratory virus should not return to school until they are well. The same is true with any students experiencing nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea; students with these symptoms should not return until 48 hours after their symptoms resolve. If your child is experiencing any symptoms of any illness, please contact the Health Center (healthcenter@standrews-de.org or 302-285-4240) and plan to delay their arrival.
If, between their pre-arrival test and their actual arrival, a student begins to feel ill or develops symptoms of any illness, please report to the Health Center upon arrival for assessment and testing.
Beyond pre-arrival testing and symptom monitoring, all move-in days will otherwise proceed as normal. Masks are optional, and visitors may enter all buildings on campus. (Don’t forget to submit your estimated arrival time here.)
Masking
Masks are optional for all community members—students, faculty, staff, and family members, regardless of vaccination status. That being said:
- All students should bring a supply of masks to campus this year.
- Masks must be worn in the Health Center for anyone experiencing symptoms of illness.
- Students with signs or symptoms of illness may be required to wear a mask, even if they are testing negative for COVID-19.
- Students may also be required to wear masks while traveling off campus or at certain locations off-campus (e.g. a local emergency room).
Testing
The school will move to a targeted approach for testing, with a focus on symptomatic testing and post-exposure testing for extremely close contacts or individuals at high risk of severe disease. We will not conduct weekly prevalence testing. This approach relies on the individual responsibility of community members to self-monitor, recognize, and act on symptoms of illness. Students should report to the Health Center with any symptoms of illness, and avoid making assumptions about what is allergies, what is a cold, and what is flu or COVID.
Quarantine & Isolation
Following recent changes in CDC recommendations, exposed individuals will not be required to quarantine.
Students who test positive for COVID-19 while on campus will be required to isolate off-campus for a minimum of five days from the beginning of symptoms or the date of the positive test. Please have an off-campus isolation plan in place in the event your child tests positive. We understand that some students who live further away and who do not have family and friends near St. Andrew’s will not be able to isolate off-campus; if that is the case for your child, we ask that you contact Associate Head of School Ana Ramirez (aramirez@standrews-de.org) to establish an alternative isolation plan. The duration of each student’s isolation will follow CDC guidance, and will take into account the severity and duration of symptoms. The Health Center team will communicate these details directly with families. A reminder that if the school is experiencing a cluster or outbreak of cases, positive students may contact their parents with this news before the Health Center has the chance to do so; if you hear from your child that they have tested positive, please initiate your isolation plan and expect to hear from the Health Center soon thereafter.
The success of all of the above measures, and our chance of experiencing a relatively uninterrupted year, depend on the willingness and partnership of all members of our community—including our families not on campus—to do what they can to reduce the prevalence of COVID on campus. The most important things you can do to contribute to the success of our school year are:
- self-monitoring and reporting any symptoms of illness
- staying home if you feel ill upon return from a school break or overnight trip off campus, and
- hand-washing throughout the day and before meals.
If you have any questions about any of the above or anything at all COVID-related, please do not hesitate to reach out to me at any time.
In partnership,
Annette Rickolt
Director of Health Services
arickolt@standrews-de.org
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