Dear Parents,
Our successful school opening is the result of a tremendous collective and communal effort to stay open by adhering strictly to health guidelines. Unfortunately, recent grade/school closures in our Yeshiva community are a sobering reminder that our personal choices impact our collective health and school continuity. Bluntly, how we comport ourselves affects the ability for JKHA/RKYHS to remain open to in person learning.
In the interest of preserving our school community’s collective health, and with Rosh Hashanah and the chagim approaching, Yeshiva High School heads from across the country have coordinated to provide guidance (below). We share this with the entire JKHA/RKYHS community, and ask that JKHA/RKYHS students and families comply with these policies. In addition, we provide the following additional supplementary guidance designed for our JKHA/RKYHS community.
Additional guidance:
- If a family chooses to have their relatives as overnight guests, masks and physical social distancing should be the norm for the visit.
- Playdates should be limited to children within the pods established by our school; students should also always be masked and outdoors.
- If your family travels to relatives for the chagim, please adhere to the mandatory quarantine when returning from any state on the New Jersey quarantine list.
- Celebrations should be held only outside, socially distanced, with attendees masked. For any gatherings, please include in your invitations explicit instructions for how health protocols will be observed and valued.
- Continue to be honest and open with our school in your communication about your students’ and families’ health. A student should stay home if he or she is not feeling well. If someone in the family has tested positive for COVID-19, please alert the school immediately. If a test is pending within a family, all students within the family should stay home until there is a confirmed negative test. If you are uncertain of protocol for your situation, reach out to your divisional administrator for clarification.
We strongly ask that you follow these guidelines strictly, even if they may not reflect your own established personal practices. Literally, our entire school’s ability to remain open rests upon each one of us and all of our families taking communal responsibility for each other’s health and safety; one cavalier decision to ignore these communal norms can shut our doors, negatively impacting over 700 students’ access to the vibrant, in-person educational experience upon which JKHA/RKYHS prides itself. Take these responsibilities and their gravity seriously; our future depends on you.
We wish you healthy and meaningful Rosh Hashanah!
Sincerely,
Ariel Levenson, Eliezer E. Rubin, Aron Srolovitz
