Dear FVS Community,
I’m writing with a follow up to last night’s update, which admittedly was sent later than would be ideal. Yesterday was a whirlwind, and as seems to be the pattern, new information arrived late in the day. Thank you again for your patience, flexibility, and understanding.
We have successfully pivoted to our distance learning model and our academic program has continued uninterrupted with day students connecting from their homes and boarding students from their rooms on campus. I want to make it clear that we are not in a campus-wide quarantine at this point. As mentioned yesterday, we do have a number of faculty and students in quarantine following protocols established by the El Paso County Department of Health, but the remaining students and faculty are free to move about campus, and the Dining Hall remains open for three meals a day.
Last night and this morning, our COVID-19 task force collected and thoroughly reviewed additional contact tracing data that resulted from the changes to our situation yesterday. We have identified a small number of additional students who will be in quarantine until November 14 and have moved them into residence halls reserved specifically for quarantine.
Academically, distance learning will continue through at least November 13 and the daily schedule can be found below. It follows the same color and block rotation as our schedule for in-person classes, but achieves a later start and earlier finish to the day by abbreviating classes to 60 minutes from 75 and consolidating two lunch periods into one. We have designed this schedule to be mindful of the amount of screentime required of students, and our faculty is working to creatively adapt assignments and workloads to further support this goal.
Distance Learning Daily Schedule
- 9:30-10:30am- Class Block 1
- 10:35-11:35am- Class Block 2
- 11:35am-12:35pm- Lunch
- 12:35-1:35pm- Class Block 3
- 1:40-2:40pm- Class Block 4
- Athletics & Afternoon Activities- TBD
Day students needing to access campus in order to retrieve materials should contact the Deans’ Office to make arrangements by emailing deansoffice@fvs.edu. Day students who are not in quarantine may come to campus between the hours of 8:30am-5:00pm tomorrow and Friday after making arrangements with the Deans’ Office. Day students who are in quarantine may not come to campus and will need to coordinate pick up by a parent or fellow day student who is not in quarantine.
Athletics and afternoon activities will evolve in a way that complements our distance learning schedule and supports the health and well-being of the students. At this point, participation in athletics and afternoon activities is limited to boarding students. It is our hope that day students will also leverage the extra time at the end of the day to be active and get outdoors. Further details will be communicated tomorrow.
Knock on wood, it has otherwise been a relatively uneventful day, which is good. It is our hope that a pattern of predictability and support will stabilize and prevail in the days and weeks ahead. Unfortunately, the situation around us in El Paso County continues to move in a less than ideal direction with case counts skyrocketing and positivity rates on the rise as well. As such, we remain hypervigilant and will continue to exercise an abundance of caution as we move forward.
As always, stay safe, take care, and be well.
Sincerely,
William Webb
Head of School
Fountain Valley School of Colorado
6155 Fountain Valley School Road
Colorado Springs, CO 80911
