Head of School Judy Guild shared last week that students will be asked to undergo weekly COVID-19 tests after returning from the winter break. Students who are not tested on-campus must be tested elsewhere before returning to in-person classes.

This was announced to students in last week’s Upper School Morning Meeting and sent to families in the Weekly Bulletin. “This additional mitigation strategy will be part of our plan to navigate in-person learning during the winter months, when public health officials anticipate higher numbers of cases,” the bulletin reads.

The decision was made by Guild and the COVID Response Team, who have been carefully monitoring cases in the community and surrounding areas. As cases have increased—and are still expected to surge around the winter holidays—weekly testing will help mitigate the risk of exposure to the virus on-campus.

Similar to the return from Thanksgiving, classes will be held remotely the week of January 4. On Wednesday, January 6, students, faculty, and staff will have the day off to undergo COVID-19 testing on-campus to prepare for a January 11 return to in-person classes.

After the initial testing immediately following winter break, community members will undergo weekly testing to remain on-campus.

“Following the anticipated return to in-person, on campus learning on Monday, January 11, students will be tested weekly, just as our faculty and staff are currently tested, on a four-day rotation while in school,” the bulletin clarified. “We will use the same PCR test (shallow nasal swab) that was used in November in partnership with CIC Health.”

As the winter break approaches, the School will continue to monitor internal and external pandemic metrics.