Dear NSCS Families,
With our thoughts beginning to transition from the lazy days of summer toward back-to-school, I suspect many of you have questions around how the new school year will look as we continue to live life amid COVID.
While the Administration has not finalized back-to-school COVID protocol for the new school year, I can share with you what we learned from having experienced full in-person learning during this past school year.
During the 2020-21 Academic Year we had a very carefully designed Reopen School Doors Plan.You may view this plan here. The plan was developed and supported by our Reopen School Doors Task Force, which included faculty & staff, parents, and an outside school mental health member. Also serving on the Task Force were two medical consultants. Policy and protocol were created that would support not only the physical wellbeing of our students and staff, but their mental wellbeing as well. In order to create a balance that supported important COVID measures, and allowed our students to experience a normal school year, it required our entire learning community to trust and support the process. Praise be to God; we experienced an exceptional year of learning together!
As I reflect upon the past school year what I can say is that the transmission rate of COVID being spread within our learning community was immeasurable, indicating that there was either no recognizable transmission or it was extremely low. Remember, we spent the majority of the school year pre-vaccine. While we began the school-year masked-up in grades 1 and above, we were able to relax this policy within the classrooms as we respected the recommended social distance of 3-feet (according to the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education). Students also learned very quickly how to self-regulate their need for mask breaks.
As we anticipate another school year, I have been consulting with other private school administrators, considering local guidance, and conferencing with our medical experts. I appreciate that many of you have questions, concerns, and opinions and that you are also eager to learn what COVID policies and practices will be implemented for the new school year. We have decided to reserve the right to “wait” a few more weeks until we post any detailed information regarding a COVID policy for the new school year. Information is changing daily, and it is important to me that when information is shared, it is current so that our families can plan accordingly.
It should be expressed, that NSCS desires to have our students return to school and participate within an environment that feels normal in every way, with restrictions as limited as possible while keeping our students and staff safe.
On Friday, July 30th DESE, in conjunction with the Department of Public Health, released recommendations for the start of the new school year. While these recommendations included mask-wearing, they were only recommendations. It also appears that restrictions on social distancing have also been relaxed, as no restrictions in this regard were mentioned. You may view the latest DESE communication that was made public on July 30, 2021 by clicking on the button below.
